By Any Other Name
by Trufreak89
Summary: Paige McCullers finds her world turned upside down when she discovers the people who raised her aren't her real parents. Ripped from her old life, she's thrown in to the dysfunctional Hastings family; where her only solace comes in the form of her newfound sister's best friend.
1. Chapter 1

**By Any Other Name  
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**Summary: **Paige McCullers finds her world turned upside down when she discovers the people who raised her aren't her real parents. Ripped from her old life, she's thrown in to the dysfunctional Hastings family; where her only solace comes in the form of her sister's best friend.

**Rating: **M (Probably T for now)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything related to the show.

**A/N: **So this sprang to mind after watching '_Finding Carter'. _I'm already working on a million things right now, but this idea wouldn't leave me alone, so I had to start writing it. I'll probably keep writing if people are interested in it.

* * *

><p>"Nice work Kiddo. Your times are coming on great." Nick McCullers grinned at his teenage daughter as she climbed in to the front seat of his SUV. "You really impressed me out there tonight. I'm pretty sure there were scouts there too."<br>"My dive was short on that last relay. I could have done better." Paige shook her head. She shivered as drops of water ran down her back. Her hair was still wet from the pool, and she'd hastily tied it back.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. That's my job." Nick cracked, giving her a weathered smile. He was pushing forty, and Paige had started to notice the little lines around his eyes and mouth; the many cracks and wrinkles that told the story of his life.

It hadn't been a fairytale, by any stretch of the imagination. Paige caught him staring at the gold band on his wedding finger. Her mom had been dead for close to two years, but Paige's father had never once taken it off. The loss had hit them both pretty hard, but it had brought them closer than ever. Paige and her dad hadn't always been close. There'd been a time when they'd stopped talking for a while, only ever screaming at each other across the dining room table. Paige's mom had always been the buffer between them, the one who could calm both of their fiery tempers.

It was a hereditary thing. Paige got her dad's temper and her mom's love of the water. She'd been a swimmer too. That was why Paige had thrown herself in to her training after her mom's death. Swimming had been the only thing that could take Paige's mind off the pain of her passing. It had been sudden. Some stupid drunk driver had hit her car head on, instantly killing the most important person in Paige's life. She tried not to dwell on it it too much. She and her dad hardly every talked about the missing member of their family. It was too hard for either of them to deal with.

"I was talking to your coach. He's had a lot of top colleges interested in you. He said Penn State were pretty keen-"  
>"Dad, come on! We've been over this! I'm applying for Stanford. That's my first choice." Paige had lost count of the number of times they'd argued over where she would be going to college next year. She had not long turned seventeen and had just started her senior year of high school. Scouts and colleges were all she seemed to be thinking about.<br>"I know." Nick let out a heavy sigh as he pulled in to their driveway and killed the engine. "I just wish you'd consider a school a little closer to home. How am I supposed to be an overbearing father if you're on the other side of the country? Huh?"

"You're not." Paige laughed. She leant over to press a kiss to his clean shaven cheek and offered him a wry smile. "You're going to have to let me go sometime Papa-Bear."  
>"Never! You'll always be my little Paigey Penguin." Nick grinned as he took her kitbag from her.<br>"Dad! Quit calling me that. I'm not five!" Paige rolled her eyes at him, though she was biting back a smile as she followed him inside their house.

They lived in a modest three bedroom house in Mt. Lebanon, one of the more affluent suburbs near Pittsburgh. Paige's father worked as a banker in the city, so he faced a long commute on the weekdays. It was rare for him to be home for dinner during the week, though he always made an effort to get to all of Paige's swim meets; even the away ones.

"I'm going to call it a night. I've got that stupid field trip tomorrow." Paige stretched with a yawn. The meet had wiped her out, and she felt ready to fall right in to bed.  
>"Oh yeah, your trip to the FBI field office. Just you behave tomorrow, I'm not bailing you out of jail."<br>"I'll try my best not to pull any fire alarms, or send any bomb threats." Paige made a show of crossing her fingers as she headed for the stairs.  
>"That's all I can ask for." Nick called after her with a smirk, fully aware that his teenage daughter was not only a hothead, but a smart ass too; she couldn't be any more like him if she tried.<p>

* * *

><p>"McCullers! Move your ass! I saved you a seat." Shana Cruz patted the empty seat beside her on the school bus. She was sitting near the back, with the rest of the swimming jocks. Paige made her way down the bus, heading towards her friends.<br>"Who says I want to sit with you?" Paige grinned as she stopped in front of Shana, leaning casually against the back of the seat in front. Shana rolled her eyes as she tugged on the front of her shirt, pulling Paige down on top of her. She greeted her with a searing kiss that left Paige's toes curling in her sneakers. "Okay. You twisted my arm." She laughed as she dropped down beside her girlfriend.

She and Shana had been dating for the better part of six months. The other girl had transferred in from Georgia during the previous year; and Paige had instantly hated her. Their fierce rivalry had grown over months, with Paige doing everything in her power to try and best the other swimmer. It had ended when Shana had pushed her up against her locker and kissed her senseless; though even that had ended up turning in to a competition between them.

"Looking forward to our super fun field trip?" Shana smirked as she made herself comfortable, leaning across to rest her head in Paige's lap.  
>"So much." Paige rolled her eyes, and started running her fingers through her girlfriend's hair. "I'm mostly looking forward to tonight. Are your parents still going out?"<br>"They sure are. We'll have the place to ourselves all night...unless you want to invite the rest of the team over?" Paige responded with a less than pleasant hand gesture. Shana's parents were going out for the night, to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Paige and Shana had been planning their own night in for weeks; they just had to make it through the school day first.

The trip was about as fun as Paige expected. Their guide, an agent so old he'd probably known J. Edgar Hoover personally, led them around the federal building, showing them cubicles and notice boards. He had a dry, nasally kind of voice. It was grating on Paige's last nerve by the time lunch rolled around. The most exciting thing he showed them was the finger printing computer. A lab technician demonstrated the way prints could be digitally scanned in from a portable tablet. The technician looked barely older than the teens he was lecturing; if he hadn't been wearing an ID badge, he'd probably be assigned a buddy by the teacher leading the field trip.

"Who wants a try? How about you?" He nodded towards Shana, but she hastily pushed Paige in front of her. She wasn't exactly the volunteering type, so she offered her girlfriend up instead. The technician didn't seem to care. He just ushered Paige over and placed the thumb of her left hand down on the scanner, followed by her palm. "So the prints get processed through the computer. If they were associated with a crime the computer would- Oh." The technician frowned down at the monitor as the computer started beeping. The agent acting as their tour guide peered over his shoulder, wearing the same puzzled expression.  
>"What did you do?" Shana teased Paige as the rest of the group started murmuring behind her.<p>

"You got me; I stole the Lindbergh baby." Paige answered with her usual sarcasm, trying to hide her anxiety. She'd never broken the law before. There was no reason for her prints to be on file; no reason for the computer to be beeping like crazy.  
>"Uh, folks, let's call that lunch. I'll show you down to the cafeteria." Agent Malone, their ancient guide, started shepherding the teenagers out of the room. Paige caught him whispering something to the computer guy on his way out. He looked up and gave her a smile that was obviously meant to be reassuring; it was anything but.<p>

She was still thinking about it an hour later. She was sitting with Shana and a few of the other girls from the swim team. The others were happily eating lunch, chatting amongst themselves, but Paige had barely ate a thing. She was too preoccupied. There was a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach, and it was only growing bigger. The air around her felt charged and tangible, she could almost taste it. "Paige?" She jumped as Shana tried to get her attention. She'd obviously been trying for some time. Her expression was filled with concern. "Is everything okay?" Paige stared past her, her eyes fixed on Agent Malone and the younger agent accompanying him. They were headed right towards her.  
>"No." Paige swallowed hard. "I don't think it is."<p>

"Miss McCullers?" It was the younger agent who addressed her first. She was a woman in her early forties, with curly auburn hair and a motherly face. Her almond shaped eyes were warm and soft, and her smile was patient. Paige stared blankly up at her. "Can you come with us please?" She held out her hand, indicating for Paige to stand up.  
>"What's this about?" The teenager's fingers dug in to the plastic seat she was sitting on. "That crack about the Lindbergh baby was just a joke-"<br>"Please, just come with us."

Paige felt like her legs had turned to jelly as she got to her feet like the woman asked. She could hear the other kids starting to talk about her as the two federal agents escorted her out of the cafeteria. They led her down a long corridor that never seemed to end. It looked just like every other hallway in the building, with its plain whitewash walls and dull grey carpet. "Just in here." The female agent opened the door to what looked like a conference room and ushered Paige to take a seat inside. Agent Malone hung back, standing by the door as he closed it over. She suddenly felt trapped, like the walls were about to start closing in on her.

"What's going on?" Paige demanded again, her voice trembling as the older woman took a seat opposite her. For all she was the younger of the two agents, she seemed to be the more superior of the two. She quietly opened the file she was holding and started sorting through a stack of papers. When she was ready, she looked back up at Paige, still wearing that patient smile of hers. "I understand this is probably a little scary, but I want you to know straight off the bat, you're not in trouble. You've already met Agent Malone here, and I'm Special Agent Tanner-"  
>"What am I doing in here? What's going on? Did something happen to my dad? Oh god, is he okay?" Paige was starting to pass fear. She was going in to a full blown panic as she considered that something might have happened to her father. He was all the family she had left.<p>

"Your father's fine. It's Nicholas McCullers, right?" Tanner's eyes had lost their softness. For all her expression was still warm and open, her gaze had hardened. She looked like a bloodhound on the trail of a scent. "And he works for First National Bank on East Carson Street, doesn't he? That's just down the block. I've asked someone to get in touch with him."  
>"Why?" Paige croaked. "What did I do wrong?"<br>"You didn't do anything wrong, sweetheart...but I think your dad did." Tanner pulled a photo out of the file and placed it down on the table in front of them. It was of a smiling toddler, with short dark hair and chubby little cheeks. Tanner let Paige study the image for a moment, before she started again.

"This is Kathryn Hastings. She went missing from a department store here in Pittsburgh. Fifteen years ago."  
>"What does any of that have to do with my dad? Or me?" Paige was starting to lose her patience. A quick temper ran in the family.<br>"This is you." Tanner watched the teenager closely, gauging her reaction. Malone had come to tell her that some kid's prints had flagged up on AFIS as a missing child, and Tanner had recognised the name immediately. The Hastings case had been the first missing persons she'd worked on after joining the bureau. It had haunted her for fifteen long years.

"What? Is this a joke?" Paige sneered in disbelief. She looked between Tanner and Malone, waiting to see which one of them would crack a smile first. It had to be a joke. They _had_ to be teasing her. It was probably some field trip prank they pulled on some poor unsuspecting kid. The rest of the class were probably standing on the other side of the glass mirror, laughing their asses off at her.

"It's not a joke. Your prints match the ones we have on file for Kathryn Hastings. We took them from your toys after you went missing. We can run a DNA test, but I'm pretty confident it's just going to confirm what we already know. You _are_ Kathyrn Hastings. The man you know as your father is actually your abductor-"  
>"No!" Paige stood up so fast that she knocked her chair back. "You're lying! This is nuts! It's crazy, my dad...my dad is my dad!" Paige was aware of her voice growing louder as she began to shout, but she couldn't help herself.<br>"Paige, please, sit back down. Family Services are on there way-" Tanner got to her feet and tried to take a step towards her.

"Stay the hell away from me!" Paige pushed her away, hard, and turned to bolt for the door.  
>Malone grabbed hold of her before she could reach it. She bucked back against him, trying to shake him off as Tanner recovered from her shove. The older agent twisted Paige's arm up behind her back as he pulled her away from door. He shoved her face first down against the conference table, just as the door opened.<p>

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" A dark haired woman in an expensive looking suit, demanded as she stormed inside. Malone jumped away from the teenager like he'd been burned. The woman reached out for Paige, pulling her in to a protective embrace. Paige went with it. She was freaked out of her mind, and in desperate need of the comfort. She just wanted to go home to her dad.

"I was trying to stop her from hurting herself." Malone huffed as he adjusted the lapels of his jacket.  
>"Veronica." Tanner addressed the woman with a sense of familiarity as she stepped towards her. Paige tensed, not wanting either agent anywhere near her. She felt safe with the woman she presumed was from Family Services; that was until she started to speak.<br>"Kathryn, it's okay-" Paige wrenched away from her, backing herself in to a corner.  
>"My name is Paige! I'm Paige McCullers, and I want to see my dad! I want to go home!"<br>"I'm afraid that can't happen." Tanner spoke in the same kind of patient tone that a kindergarten teacher would use on her kids. "Paige, this is Veronica Hastings. She's your mother."


	2. Chapter 2

"She's so beautiful." Veronica sighed, with her head resting against the glass of the two way mirror that looked in to the room next door. She'd walked out when her daughter had started screaming at her to leave. Veronica had wanted to stay. She'd wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around her daughter and to never let her go again. The girl had been too upset thought. Veronica had known better than to stick around and antagonise a pissed off teenage girl. She'd gone next door with Tanner, and another agent had brought them two cups of strong coffee. Veronica cradled her cup between her hands, savouring the warmth it was giving off. "She has Spencer's eyes...her attitude too." A small smile tugged at the mother's lips as she watched her daughter through the glass. As much as she denied being a Hastings, she certainly had the mouth of one.

"They're twins aren't they?" Tanner had put enough time and resources in to the case of the missing Hastings kid to know the details off by heart. Kathryn Hastings had been born four whole minutes after her fraternal twin sister. She'd been far smaller than her sister too. She'd spent a month in the hospital before she'd been allowed home with her family. "It's been a couple of years since I last saw Spencer. I'm sorry I haven't been in touch recently. Truth is, this case was cold from the start. Her turning up like this was a fluke. We might never have found her otherwise."

"It's a miracle." Veronica shook her head, still barely able to believe what she was seeing. Her youngest daughter was alive. She was safe. Where she had been didn't matter, yet.  
>"We're bringing in this McCullers guy. I ran his record. He's clean. Not even a parking ticket. He had a wife, but she died two years ago."<p>

"So the son of a bitch was careful." Veronica tore her gaze away from the glass. A woman from family services was sitting with her daughter, trying to calm her down. Veronica could understand the girl's anger. She had just found out her whole life was a lie. It was natural the teenager would lash out and start to shut down. It was going to take a lot of time and patience to make Paige understand they were telling her the truth.

"I want his ass nailed to the wall for this. You tell your men, I want this done by the book. This guy walks because some incompetent rookie screwed up a search warrant, and I'll bring the wrath of god down on this office!" Tanner nodded in understanding. Veronica Hastings wasn't just some grieving mother of a lost child. She was a highly educated defence lawyer, with the power to back up any threats she might make.

"You should be able to take her home soon. We'll need to follow up with interviews, but for now it's probably best we give her a couple of days. This is going to be hard for her to swallow. From what I can tell, she had no indication that she'd been taken." Tanner wasn't saying anything that Veronica didn't already know. The Hastings women were resilient though. She had no doubt that her daughter would be strong enough to handle it; regardless of what she wanted to call herself, she was a Hastings.

The two women headed back in to the room next door. Paige looked up as the door opened, her eyes narrowing suspiciously on the woman who claimed to be her birth mother. Veronica had seen her daughters give her some looks over the year, but neither Spencer nor Melissa had ever looked at her with so much contempt. "Paige, you can go home now." Tanner's words were a poor choice. Paige's face lit up like it was Christmas morning.  
>"Home? Is my Dad here?"<br>"No. Paige, I meant you can go home with your mother. With Veronica."

"That's not happening!" Paige snarled, the look of hatred returning to her face. "I have no idea who that woman is! You can't _make_ me go home with her! I want to see my Dad!"

"Paige, your dad's being brought in for questioning. The social worker would have explained that to you. I know this is all a hot mess right now, but we're not wrong about this. Veronica Hastings _is_ your mother. That makes her your legal guardian. We're going to need you to go with her tonight. We'll speak to Nick McCullers and see if we can't clear this thing up." Tanner was pandering to her. Paige could see it written all over her face. Her eyes were too bright, her smile too forced. She was telling Paige what she wanted to hear. They were making it look like she had a choice, when really she was backed in to a corner.  
>"Fine." She relented, unable to look the woman who claimed to be her mother in the eye. "I'll go without a fight, but I get to see my dad first."<p>

"Paige that's not going to be-" Tanner started to shoot her down, but Veronica spoke up.  
>"I'm happy for that to happen. If it will help Kath...If it helps Paige to deal with all of this, then I'll allow it." For the first time since Veronica had opened her mouth, Paige didn't feel like clawing her eyes out.<br>"Thank you." She managed to force herself to look at the woman, trying not to see all the similarities between them. Veronica Hastings was tall and slender, with long dark hair and eyes that were the exact same shade of brown as Paige's own. Her high cheekbones and strong jaw were also something Paige had faced in the mirror countless times before.

Her mothers eyes had been blue, her hair a dark blonde. Paige's nose was a different shape to both of her parents. All of these things kept going around Paige's mind as she followed Tanner through the maze of corridors that made up the Pittsburgh office of the FBI. Veronica was following behind them. Close enough to keep Paige in her sight, but not so close as to make her feel smothered. Paige felt for the woman. It wasn't her fault the FBI had screwed up and put all of these ideas in her head. She would be heartbroken when Paige's DNA proved that she wasn't this Hastings girl; when Paige's father would take her home, back to the safety of their house, and the woman would go back to not knowing what had happened to her missing child.

"Paige!" Nick McCullers sprang to his feet the second his daughter walked in to the interrogation room he'd been sat in for the last forty minutes. The senior investigator on the case, an agent Tanner, and a woman from Family Services also walked in to the room, but Nick didn't care about them. His attention was fixed solely on Paige as he threw his arms around her and held her tight.  
>"I'm sorry, Dad." Paige clung to his neck, burying her face against his shoulder as she tried not to start crying again. "They keep saying this crazy stuff about me and I don't know why..." Paige bit back a sob as her dad pulled back to look her right in the eyes, his big hands gripping the tops of her arms.<br>"Paige...I have no idea what they're talking about either. You are _my _daughter, and when they get that through their thick skulls, we are _both _going home. Now, you can call Shana's parents. I'm sure they'll take you for tonight-"

"They say I've got to go with that woman. The one saying I'm her kid." Paige's lower lip started to wobble. She was really trying to keep it together, but seeing her dad had knocked all of the fight out of her. She just wanted to curl up in his arms and have her father make everything right again.  
>"They can't do that." Nick shook his head and finally turned his attention to Tanner. "You can't take my daughter from me and just <em>give <em>her to some woman!"  
>"Maybe you should have thought about that fifteen years ago, Nick." Tanner's tone was dry and curt. It left no doubt that she'd already made up her mind that Nick McCullers was a child abductor. She hadn't figured out his motivations yet.<p>

She didn't know whether he was a sick pervert, or just a man who's wife had wanted a child of their own so desperately that he'd stolen someone else's; but _why_ didn't matter so much at the moment. They would hammer out the details once he'd confessed. She had to hand it to the guy though, he was stick to his story.

"My daughter was born in Austin, Texas, seventeen years ago. On May 10th. I have her birth certificate at home. I have her baby photos, a lock of her hair...Jesus Christ, I've even got the first tooth she lost! I don't know who you _think_ she is, but you're wrong! This is my Paige...my little girl..." There were tears welling up in his eyes as Nick hastily wiped them with the back of one arm, and kept the other around Paige's shoulders. He couldn't let her see him breaking down. He had to be strong for her.

"If that's true, Mr McCullers, then we'll know in a few hours when we get the DNA test back. For now, Paige has to go home with who the state believes is her rightful guardian. Right now, based on finger print evidence, we believe that is Mrs Hastings. We'll get a search warrant for your house for that stuff you mentioned. We can compare that DNA too. If it turns out we're wrong, I'll be the first one to apologise."

""You'll be doing a lot more than that." Nick growled out, with his jaw set. "You don't need a search warrant. Just like I don't need a lawyer. Take what you want, I've got nothing to hide. Paige is mine, and I will do anything that I can to help prove that."  
>"We appreciate your cooperation, sir." Tanner was back to wearing the fake smile as she moved to get the door. "The sooner we straighten all this out the better. Now your daughter's going to have to go. Just for tonight." Nick nodded his understanding.<p>

He would move heaven and earth for this daughter's sake, but he knew the only way to get Paige back was to prove he was innocent of whatever it was the FBI were accusing him off. He pulled Paige back in for one more hug. "You be good now. You remember how your mother and I raised you, and you do what these people tell you. No mouthing off, you hear me?" Paige was took choked up to answer him, all she could manage was a nod of her head. "I'm going to call you tonight. Everything's going to be okay. You'll see." He kissed her cheek before giving her a gentle push towards the door. Paige couldn't remember walking out of the room, but she suddenly found the door closing behind her and agent Tanner's hand at her back, guiding her down another whitewashed corridor.

The walls were starting to feel like they were drawing closer together. Her stomach was churning and she could feel acid burning at the back of her throat; it felt like it was closing up as she started to struggle to breathe. Her legs gave way beneath her. She hit the floor like a sack of potatoes, her knees slamming down hard against the cheap carpet. She couldn't take in any air. Her mouth was open, her lungs were gasping, but she couldn't get the oxygen her body so desperately needed.

"Paige! Paige, it's okay!" Tanner dropped down beside her. She was trying to help her, but she didn't know what was wrong. The social worker was on her other side. Crowding her wasn't helping Paige any. She was in the middle of a full blown panic attack. She clenched her eyes shut, trying to focus on blocking the rest of the world out.

"Out of the way!" She heard an authoritative voice ordering the others away from her, and she then felt something being thrust in front of her face. She opened her eyes to find herself staring at a paper bag. Veronica had pulled it out of her briefcase, and was holding it up to her mouth. Paige snatched hold of it and started breathing in to it. She sat back against the wall, clutching the bag over her mouth as her breathing started to return to normal. Veronica hovered uncertainly beside her, her expression a picture of concern. She noticed a strand of hair that had come loose from Paige's braid, and tucked it back behind her ear.

"Do you get them often? The panic attacks?" Veronica asked some time later, when she and Paige were sitting in her car and stuck in traffic on the I79. The teenager had lapsed in to a stony silence after recovering from the anxiety attack, and she hadn't said a word since they'd left the city. Paige had suffered with anxiety on and off for years, it was mostly under control. "Melissa, your older sister, she used to get them a lot when she was your age."  
>"I'm an only child." Paige answered dryly. She was sitting curled up against the door of Veronica's Prius, her head resting against the back of her hand and her eyes glued to the road.<p>

"Paige, I understand this is hard for you. It's hard for me too. I thought you were...it's going to be an adjustment." Veronica glanced over at the stranger sitting in her car, thinking that was probably the understatement of the century. She didn't need blood tests, or fingerprints to know the girl was hers. Even without the resemblance to her other daughters, Veronica could feel the connection deep down in her bones.  
>"An adjustment? Seriously?" Paige finally looked over at the older woman. She was doing her best to do as her father had asked her and to be polite, but it was hard to mind her manners when it felt like her world was imploding.<p>

Veronica's first instinct was to check the girl for her tone, but she caught herself. Paige wasn't Spencer or Melissa. She was going to need to handle her with kid gloves for a while; at least until they were no longer virtual strangers. "You look like Spencer when you pull that face. Would you like to see a picture of her? I have some of her on my phone, Melissa too; and your father-"  
>"You've never met my father." Paige huffed, slipping back in to her sulk. Veronica wasn't so easily swayed.<br>"You're a twin you know. Fraternal, not identical. Spencer, she was born a few minutes before you. You were so tiny when you were born-"

"Please stop." Paige closed her eyes with a pained expression. "I'm sorry that you lost your baby, I really am, but I'm not her. I don't want to hear about your family, I just want to go home to mine."  
>"I understand why you might feel that way." Veronica's grip tightened on the wheel. She was wearing a tight smile and talking like Paige's guidance councillor from school. "The FBI are rushing the DNA testing tonight. We'll know which one of us is right by morning."<br>"Can't wait."

The two women fell back in to an uneasy silence for the rest of the drive. Paige kept herself busy by checking her cell phone. It had been going like crazy all afternoon, so she'd knocked it on to silent mode. The calls and messages from her friends were mounting up, particularly from Shana. Paige didn't answer any of them. Even if she'd felt like talking, she wouldn't have known what to say.

Eventually they reached a town called Rosewood. It looked like every other small town in Pennsylvania. Main street was lit up with stores and coffee shops, and people were milling around, enjoying a seasonally warm late September evening. Paige was supposed to be over at Shana's house, making the most of having her girlfriend all to herself while her parents were out. She was supposed to be watching movies and planning a lazy Saturday morning with Shana. She _wasn't _supposed to be in some strangers car, being driven to god knows where, to meet a bunch of people who were going to think she was someone she wasn't.

"Peter's away on business at the moment, and Melissa's working in London. I've called them both. They're coming home as soon as they can. So it's just going to be me, you and Spencer tonight. It's probably better that way, you won't be too overwhelmed." Veronica explained as they pulled up the drive of an impressive looking ranch style house. The Hastings clearly had some money. Alongside the main house was an old barn that looked like it had been converted in to a guest house. Veronica pulled in to carport. There was a Toyota Highlander parked on the far side, and still space for another two cars. Back home, Paige struggled to get her bike in alongside her dad's car.

"Come on in." Veronica ushered her inside. They went in through the back door, walking in to an open plan kitchen, with marble counters and shining appliances. It looked immaculate, like no one ever cooked in it. Veronica placed her briefcase down on the the breakfast island and shrugged off her jacket. "Spencer? Are you home? Spence!" She called out for her daughter, and Paige waited patiently for her first glimpse of her supposed 'twin'. She didn't have to wait long.

Spencer Hastings blew in to the kitchen like a hurricane, pulling on a denim jacket and flicking out her hair. "Hi Mom. I'm just on my way out. I'm meeting Emily for dinner." She hadn't noticed Paige. The other girl had attempted to shrink in on herself as she stood by the door, out of the way. She and Spencer had a similar build, though the other girl was an inch or so taller. She was as skinny as a rake, where as Paige was carrying more muscle. They had the same long dark hair, though Paige's was shorter. She was still growing out her bangs from last year.

"Dad left a message on the answering machine, but I don't have a clue what he was talking about-" Spencer caught Paige staring at her as she headed for the back door. "Sorry, I didn't realise we had company. I'm going to take off, I won't be home late."  
>"Spence, I need you to stay." Veronica put her arm out to stop her daughter from walking out. Spencer's face twisted. She looked like she was about to throw a strop, then remembered Paige was standing there.<br>"Mom, I'm going over to Emily's. I told you about this last night. You didn't say you were bringing a client home for dinner-"

"Spencer, this is...Paige. She isn't a client. She's...She's your sister."  
>"Mom, I know I complain about Melissa all the time, but that doesn't mean you had to go and swap her." Spencer cracked. Her sarcasm cut a little too close to the bone for Paige, who was still watching the other girl intently. She was trying to figure out whether she was meant to feel something. If the girl standing in front of her really were her twin, then surely she should have felt something? She'd heard about twins who could feel each other's pain, or know when one another was in trouble, even when they were miles apart; but she was looking at Spencer Hastings, and apart from some mild amusement at her joke, she felt nothing.<p>

"Spencer, this isn't a joke. She's your sister." Veronica tried again to get her daughter to listen to her. They had kept the existence of her missing twin from her in order to protect Spencer. She had been too young to remember her. Her parents had felt it kinder to let her forget. There had been no leads in the case from the start. The CCTV in the department store hadn't been working and no one had remembered seeing anyone walking off with the baby. Veronica and Peter Hastings had long ago given up hope on their missing child being found alive. "There are some things your father and I never told you-"

"Big surprise there." Spencer interrupted, with her arms folded across her chest. She fixed her attention on Paige, refusing to believe what she was hearing. "Is this like the thing with Jason? Has dad got any more illegitimate children running around that we should know about?"  
>"It's nothing like that." Veronica snapped through clenched teeth. She was clearly still trying to exercise some control in front of Paige; but at the same time, she didn't want Spencer airing their dirty laundry before the other girl had even had a chance to meet the rest of the family. "Paige is your twin sister. She was taken from us when you were very little. She was abducted."<br>"Seriously?" Spencer lost the attitude as she looked between her mom and the stranger standing awkwardly by the door. "Holy Sh-"  
>"Spencer! Language!"<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

"Let me get this right. I have a twin sister, a twin who was _abducted;_ and you and dad _hid_ it from me...Why do I feel like this perfectly sums up our family?" Spencer dead-panned as she sat on the sofa with her arms crossed, staring intently up at her mother, who was pacing by the fireplace. Paige was perched on the other sofa, her hands clasped anxiously together as she stared down at the ground.  
>"Spencer." Veronica chided, her patience wearing thin after almost an hour of trying to explain to her daughter. "Your father and I did what we thought was best. You were too young to remember. We thought it would be better if we just let you forget-"<p>

"Forget? About my sister? My _twin _sister?" Spencer stared at her mother incredulously. "Does Melissa know about all of this? Did _she _get to remember we have another sister? She did, didn't she!" Paige felt like a third wheel as she sat between the rowing mother and daughter.  
>"Melissa was older Spencer. She was eight years old, of course she was going to remember! It was different with you. We thought it would do more harm than good to have you remember Kathryn; especially when we couldn't tell you what had happened to her." Veronica looked apologetically at her youngest daughter, for talking about her like she wasn't there. Paige didn't bat an eyelid. It wasn't really her they were talking about anyway.<p>

She was still sure that the DNA tests would come back negative, and the whole nightmare would be over and done with. She could go home to her dad and laugh about it all; after a good night's sleep in her own bed of course. She didn't have her house keys on her. It was a strange thing to dwell on, but it was all Paige could think about. She'd packed her backpack for a night at Shana's house, and her dad had driven her to school, so she hadn't bothered to pick up her keys. She'd have to wait out on the porch if she got back home before her dad did.

"Spencer, why don't you show Paige up to the guest room? I need to go and call your father back, and then I'll make us dinner." Veronica instructed, already pulling out her phone before either teenager could object. She shot Paige a warm smile, trying to reassure her that everything was going to be fine. It was going to take a lot more than a smile though. Paige slung her bag back over her shoulder and followed Spencer up the staircase.

The upstairs of the house was the same kind of show piece as downstairs. The walls were a neutral beige, and the carpet was a creamy colour that Paige couldn't imagine staying clean for more than five minutes back at her house. Her mom had kept a very tidy house, and it had rubbed off on Paige. Her room wasn't the typical bomb site of a teenager's bedroom. She prided herself on things being orderly, and everything being in its rightful place. Standing in the Hastings guest room, she had never felt more out of place her entire life.

"Can I get you something?" Spencer asked from over by the door. It was clear she had no idea what she was meant to say. Paige was in the same boat. She shook her head as she dropped her bag down on the floor.  
>"I'd really just like to be left alone."<br>"Sure. I'm just down the hall if you need anything." Spencer nodded in understanding. She paused by the door, wrestling over whether to voice what she was thinking. "Despite what you've seen so far, we're not really that bad."

"I'm sure you're good people, and a great family...and I feel so sorry for your mom, because the police have screwed up so badly. I'm not who your mom thinks I am, and I think she's going to be really crushed when the truth comes out." Spencer had nothing to say back to that. She left, giving Paige exactly what she had asked for. Paige dropped down on to the bed and flopped backwards, sighing up at the ceiling. There were half a dozen cushions digging in to her neck and back. She kicked off her Converse and curled up on her side, trying to make herself comfortable in a strange bed, in a strange house. Paige wanted to close her eyes and wake up in her own bed. She wanted out of the waking nightmare she'd been stuck in all afternoon.

Sadly, when she opened her eyes again, the only thing that had changed was that it was dark outside. It took Paige a moment to remember where she was. When she finally did, she closed her eyes back over and let out a low groan. Someone had placed a blanket over her. She kicked it off, finding solace in that one small act of petulance. She checked her phone, in case her dad had tried calling. The only missed calls were from her friends though. It was almost seven o'clock and her dad still hadn't been in touch. Paige tried to swallow the lump she felt in her throat. She'd been sure the FBI would have realised their mistake long before now.

She still felt groggy as she dragged herself to her feet. The hallway outside was dark, but Paige managed to find her way to the stairs. She was halfway down them, just before they rounded the corner, when she heard Veronica on the phone. She paused in the shadows, listening in on the call. "No, sorry, but I can't accept that! He _had _to know she wasn't his! The monster who took my daughter might be dead, but someone still has to pay! Fine, just keep me in the loop. I appreciate you calling." Veronica hung up, and turned around to find Paige standing at the bottom of the stairs.  
>"Was that Agent Tanner? What did she say?"<p>

"Maybe you should sit down." Veronica tried to usher her over to the couch, but Paige stood her ground. She crossed her arms over her chest, and refused to budge from the bottom step. Veronica mirrored her actions, waiting for the teenage girl to give in. There was a tense stand off between them, until Paige finally moved. She dropped on to the sofa with a pointed glare at the older woman. Veronica took a seat, sitting primly, with her legs together and her hands crossed over her knees. She cleared her throat, aware she was about to have one of the most difficult conversations she would ever have. "The FBI confirmed that Mrs McCullers gave birth to a baby girl seventeen years ago-"

"Thank you!" Paige threw her hands up, misunderstanding what Veronica was trying to tell her. "So I can go home now, right?"  
>"You're not their child." Veronica decided to just rip the band aid right off, rather than drag it out. "The McCullers had a child, but that child wasn't you. The DNA tests have confirmed that you are Kathryn."<p>

"No..." Paige shook her head, too numb to feel anything but disbelief. "They're wrong! They have to be wrong..." Veronica reached forward, intending to put her hand on her daughter's knee. Paige wrenched away, wrapping her arms around herself protectively as she rocked forward on the balls of her feet and carried on shaking her head.  
>"They compared the swab they took today with a sample of hair they had from Kathryn. It was a perfect match. They also ran the items they found at your house, the lock of hair and the baby tooth; they're not from the same individual...The FBI believe that something happened to the McCullers baby around her second birthday, and that they took you to replace her." It was as hard for Veronica to talk about it as it was for Paige to hear.<p>

"Dad was in the Marines Corps when I was a baby. I was six months old when he was deployed in Somalia...he didn't leave the navy until I was almost three." Paige felt sick to her stomach as she suddenly understood what Veronica had been talking about on the phone earlier, about her abductor being dead. "My mom took me, didn't she?"  
>"The FBI are trying to determine whether Mr McCullers was aware of his wife's actions. There won't be any criminal charges if he really didn't know." Veronica was speaking like a lawyer. If she let herself speak like a mother she would have lost it all together. She was burning with hatred for the couple who had stolen her daughter from her, but she had to remember that Paige viewed them as her parents. A DNA test wasn't about to instantly change fifteen years of memories and feelings.<p>

"I'm going to be sick..." Paige suddenly bolted from her seat. She ran towards the kitchen, almost knocking in to Spencer on the way, and only just made it to the sink before she started to heave. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as reality started to sink in. Her whole life had been a lie. Her parents weren't Nick and Laura McCullers, and she hadn't been born in Austin. Her legs started to give way, she had to cling to the counter to stop herself from hitting the deck. She could hear Spencer and Veronica talking in hushed whispers in the living room, and then the click-clack of Veronica's heels on the hardwood floor as she headed to come check on her.

The kitchen was empty when she walked in, and the back door was wide open. Paige wasn't sure where she thought she was going. She just had to get out of that house. She'd left her jacket upstairs in the guest room, along with her backpack and phone. She hadn't really been thinking when she'd ran out. Her mind was too busy racing with thoughts of what her mother had done. She kept walking in the direction she thought they'd driven earlier, hoping to find her way to a bus station or something. It was cold out, something Paige was painfully aware of without her jacket. Her jeans were fashionably ripped and frayed at the knees, which left her teeth chattering together after twenty minutes of walking through the quiet streets of Rosewood.

Eventually she reached one of the busier streets. A handful of stores were still open, the lights from inside were warm and an inviting, luring Paige inside. Figuring she'd probably need to ask for directions anyway, Paige headed inside one of the coffee shops. Her fingers were left tingling with the sudden change of temperature as she stepped in to the warmth of the store. The lights were a little dimmed, and there were candles sitting on most of the tables, giving the place a cosy atmosphere. Along with the tables and the booths, there plush looking sofas up against the back wall, mostly occupied by teenagers and students.

Paige made her way over to the counter, where the girl who was serving had her back to her. "Excuse me miss-" She faltered as the girl turned around. She was simply stunning, there was no other word for it. Her eyes were soft and warm, like rich pools of melting chocolate, and her full lips were curled up in to a friendly smile, lighting up her whole face. Paige momentarily forgot how to speak.

"Can I help you?" The girl probed, her smile fixed on her lips. She was wearing a red apron tied around her waist, though it didn't quite reach down past the jeans shorts she was wearing. Had the counter not been blocking Paige's view, she would have been treated to the sight of the other girl's seemingly endless legs. She was wearing a white tank top over a sports bra, with her long dark hair tied back in to a lose pony tail that ran down her back. Paige felt like she was a few degrees away from hypothermia, and the girl behind the counter looked like an ad for sun tan lotion or something; even her skin was a soft, sun-kissed, caramel colour. "Can I get you something?" The server tried again, reminding Paige that she was actually meant to be ordering something, not standing there ogling.

"Uh, hot chocolate, please." She finally stammered out, feeling like a complete idiot as the girl behind the counter flashed her a patient smile. It was pretty much the icing on the cake that topped off the worst day of her life. She started digging through her pockets as the server placed a steaming cup of hot chocolate down in front of her. "Crap...I left my wallet in my jacket." She'd taken off from the house like a bat out of hell, not considering what she'd left behind. Paige felt her cheeks glowing red with embarrassment as she started apologising to the girl behind the counter.

"It's on me." She insisted, catching Paige off guard. She supposed independent coffee shops in small towns were a lot friendlier than the main-chain's they had back in the suburbs. It was only as the girl's eyes subtly raked over her creased plaid shirt and ripped jeans that Paige realised what she was thinking.  
>"I'm not homeless!" She blurted out, wondering just how her day could get any worse. It would probably end with her being hit by a bus or something. "I really did just forget my wallet."<br>"It's fine, you can just owe me a cup of coffee next time you stop by." The other girl insisted, though she didn't seem very convinced by Paige's missing wallet. Paige could hardly blame her, she wasn't exactly looking her best.

"I'm going to hold you to that." Paige managed her first smile in hours. The girl behind the counter returned it with an almost bashful one of her own. Paige was once again struck by just how pretty the girl was. She and Shana had been going steady for a while, but that didn't mean she was completely blind to other girls; especially really hot ones that were going out of their way to be nice to her. Paige took a seat at one of the tables by the door, one that gave her a good view of the counter and the girl who'd served her.

She'd been set on finding the bus station and getting the hell out of town, but sitting in the coffee shop had given her time to think things over. She had no wallet, no keys and no phone. Even if she could make it back home, it wouldn't change the fact that everything she had ever known had been one big lie. Paige was quietly contemplating just how screwed up her life was, when someone placed a plate down in front of her. There was a big piece of chocolate cake sitting on it. Paige's stomach started rumbling at the sight of it. She hadn't eaten since lunch time.

"You look like you could do with something sweet." The girl from earlier explained as Paige shot her a questioning look. She was grateful for the gesture, but it wasn't exactly helping to convince her that the girl believed she wasn't some street kid.  
>"Thanks, uh...what's your name?"<br>"Emily." She answered. "What's yours?"  
>"Good question." Paige mumbled under her breath. She caught Emily frowning at her and quickly tried to recover, by holding her hand out to the other girl. "It's Paige. Paige McCullers."<br>"Nice to meet you." Emily gave her that dazzling smile of hers again, before taking off to see to her paying customers.

Paige was still watching after her as the door opened and Spencer stormed inside. "Paige! Mom's worried sick!" Spencer was torn between anger and relief when she spotted her sister sitting at one of the tables. She and her mom had been searching all over town for Paige, after she'd took off from the house without telling anyone where she was going. "We didn't know where the hell you were!"  
>"Loosing me twice in one lifetime, now that's just careless." Paige sneered. She didn't mean to be cruel, her natural response to stress just tended to be scathing sarcasm.<br>"Hey! It's not like she _misplaced_ you the first time! You were taken by some nut job with a screw loose-"

"Don't you say a word about my mom!" Paige snapped. She'd been just about hanging on by a thread all night, but her temper was wearing dangerously thin as she got to her feet and right up in Spencer's face. "Say anything else about my parents and I will end you!"  
>"Hey!" Emily had heard the commotion and rushed right over to help. It was Paige who she ended up showing though. Her pleasant demeanour had completely vanished as she defended her best friend. "Back the hell off!"<br>"No, Emily, it's okay." Spencer insisted, trying to diffuse the situation. "This is Paige...she's my sister."

"Sister?" Emily frowned. "Spence, unless Melissa's changed a whole lot, I think I'm missing something here."  
>"To cut a long story short, Paige here was abducted when we were babies. In true Hastings fashion, my parents hid it from me. We only found out today...both of us." Spencer was having a hard time wrapping her head around it, so she could only imagine what Paige was going through. "Look, I need to call my mom and tell her I found you. I'm also illegally parked. I'll be right back. We can have a coffee." Spencer gave Emily a sideways look, silently begging her to make sure the other girl stayed put.<p>

"I'm guessing you probably need a lot more than cake right now." Emily wasn't quite sure what to say as she dropped in to the seat opposite Paige. She'd thought the girl had been down on her luck and in need of a little charity. A slice of cake suddenly seemed woefully inadequate.  
>"Probably, but it's a good start." Paige conceded as she picked up her fork. She didn't eat a lot of sweet stuff, especially when she was training for swim meets, but she'd make an exception given the circumstances. Chocolate was supposed to release happy hormones or something anyway.<p>

Outside, Spencer was on the phone to her mom, trying to reassure her that everything was okay. "I found her, she's at the Brew. We're going to stay for a coffee, then I'll drive her back. Okay, we'll be home soon. I Love you too." Spencer hung up the phone and ran her hands through her hair. She hadn't just stepped out to park her car properly, she needed a minute to compose herself. It wasn't everyday she found out she had a twin sister. Spencer still couldn't believe her parents had kept it from her for all those years; except she kind of could, because that was the kind of shit her parents pulled all the time. She'd been the last to know about Jason DiLaurentis being her half-brother. Melissa had known all about it, of course. She'd always been the favourite, little miss perfect could do no wrong in their parent's eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

"Your friend seems nice." Paige was sat in the front of Spencer's car, the Toyota Highlander she had seen in car port back at the house. They'd stayed at the Brew for half an hour, just long enough for Spencer to drink a coffee and Paige to have a second hot chocolate. She couldn't drink caffeine so late in the evening, she'd be climbing the walls all night if she did. Emily had been nice enough to sit with Paige until Spencer had come back inside. She hadn't asked her any awkward questions about what had happened to her. Paige had been grateful for that. She was probably going to face days of endless questioning, from the FBI and the Hastings alike.

"She is. You should count yourself lucky it was her you met, and not Hanna. She would have asked a million questions."  
>"Yeah, I feel <em>super <em>lucky right now." Paige rolled her eyes.  
>"Sorry." Spencer wasn't entirely sure what she was apologising for, she just knew that she really meant it. "I can't even begin to imagine how awful this must be for you."<br>"I know that I was taken when I was little. I know this is where I was _supposed_ to grow up, but I didn't. I don't know you people; and right now, _this_ feels more like being abducted."

"I'm sorry." Spencer repeated, there was nothing else she could think to say. "What were they like, the people who raised you?"  
>"Good people." Paige answered, and she honestly believed that. "No matter what anyone tries to say about my mom, she was a good person. She loved me more than anything else in the world. She and Dad gave me everything I ever wanted. I couldn't have asked for better parents."<br>"Sounds nice."

Veronica was waiting anxiously for the two girls when they got back. She was sitting at the counter, cradling a glass of wine. She jumped to her feet as soon as the girls walked through the back door. Her first instinct was to go to her daughter, but Veronica managed to hold back. She doubted Paige would let her anywhere near her, so she had to settle for asking if she was okay. "I just want to go to bed." The teenager ducked her head and walked right past Veronica, wanting to escape to the safety of the Hastings guest room.  
>"Do you need anything? Clothes to sleep in or-"<br>"I've got it covered, thanks. I was supposed to be staying at a... a friend's house. I've got an overnight bag."

"Okay. Good. We'll sort something more long term out tomorrow." Veronica nodded with a tight smile. Spencer recognised it for what it was. Her mother was feeling out of control. She was in a situation which she had no idea how to handle, and she was hating every second of it. Paige paused by the door. She bit at her lip as she looked at the spot just above Veronica's head.  
>"I can't argue with the DNA tests, you gave birth to me...but that doesn't make you my mom. My mom died two years ago, and she's not here to defend herself. When the FBI releases my dad, I want to go home with him. I could visit sometime, try and get to know you all, but I can't stay here."<p>

To her credit, Veronica barely blinked as her daughter stood there rejecting her. "It's late. We'll talk in the morning." Spencer knew that line all too well. It was her mother's usual way of putting an argument to rest. There would be no discussion in the morning. No debate. Paige was about to get a baptism of fire in to the Hastings family's way of dealing with disputes. The other girl seemed to buy Veronica's spiel. With a nod, she bid the two Hastings women goodnight and headed upstairs.  
>"You're not just going to let her leave, are you?" Spencer asked, her tone somewhere between accusing and concerned. She'd only just found out she had a twin, she didn't relish the idea of losing her again so quickly.<p>

"Spencer, it's late..." Veronica sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Her daughter was already one step ahead of her though, Spencer held her hand up to stop her from finishing.  
>"I know, <em>we'll talk in the morning.<em>"  
>"Goodnight, Spencer." Veronica picked up her wine glass again and kissed her daughter's cheek, before heading upstairs to her own room. She closed the door behind her and made sure to lock it. Taking a sip of her wine, she kicked off her heels and then let down her hair. She and Spencer had the same dark locks, whereas Paige and Melissa's hair was a shade lighter. They booth took after their father.<p>

Peter had been beside himself when Veronica had called to tell him the good news. She'd waited until the DNA had been confirmed, not wanting to get his hopes up before she knew for sure that Paige was their child. Losing their youngest daughter had damn near killed Peter Hastings fifteen years ago. Every false lead and sighting since had only served to twist the knife in a little deeper. Veronica had wanted to spare her husband the pain of another false lead. For all they had kept it from their other children, they had never given up the search for Kathryn. Regardless of what she wanted to call herself, their daughter was finally home. Peter was flying back first thing in the morning.

Veronica sat her glass down on the bedside table and moved over to her closet. There was a wooden box at the back of the very top shelf. It was the same place Veronica had hidden Christmas presents for the girls for years. She took the box down and perched on the edge of her bed with it in her lap. She opened the lid and carefully took out the contents of the box, laying each item out neatly on the bed in front of her. There was a lock of hair tied with a ribbon, Paige's first curl. A pair of baby booties followed it, along with a hospital bracelet and a bunch of photographs. Every picture had the same thing in common; they all showed Paige as a baby. When they'd made the decision to keep Paige's disappearance from Spencer, they'd had to hide all the evidence that the youngest twin had ever existed. It had broken Veronica's heart to do it, but it was the only way she and Peter had known how to carry on as a family.

It was a rough night for Paige. She hated sleeping out at the best of times, so trying to fall asleep in a stranger's house was neigh on impossible. She tried imagining she was in a hotel, the Hastings guest room was certainly fancy enough to pass for a five star hotel room. Paige's earlier nap had left her wide awake, and staring up at the ceiling long in to the early hours of the morning. She'd only managed to grab an hour or two of sleep before her internal body clock was giving her a wakeup call. Paige was an early riser, and always had been. She wasn't one of those people who could lie in bed all morning, letting the day go to waste. She wished that she were; that way, she could stay curled up under the covers and just ignore the rest of the world.

She checked her phone, and was disappointed to see that her dad hadn't called yet. He hadn't even sent a text. Had the FBI kept him in overnight? Had they carried on questioning him through the night? Was he still there? Paige tried calling his cell, but it went straight through to voice mail, just as it had done the night before. "Hey Dad, it's me. I, uh...I need you to come get me, okay? Call me back when you can, and I'll tell you where I am. I love you." Paige hung up and changed out of the clothes she'd worn for bed. She put her ripped jeans back on, since they were the only pants she had on her. There was a clean t-shirt in the bottom of her bag though. She pulled it on and tied back her hair.

It seemed the Hastings were early risers too. Paige could hear the shower running down the hall, so at least one of them was up. She hovered uncertainly by the top of the stairs. It felt weird to be up and walking around a stranger's home. It reminded her of the first time she'd stayed over at Shana's house, not long after they'd starting dating. They'd been out late at a party after a swimming meet, so Paige hadn't met the other girl's parents. She'd been terrified of going downstairs in the morning to meet them. It had taken an hour for Shana to coax her down. Paige probably should have called her girlfriend back last night. Shana had left her a dozen messages, worried about what was going on with her. She made a mental note to call her later. Shana was the type who liked to sleep in late.

"Good morning." Veronica greeted her with a bright smile as Paige finally worked up the courage to walk downstairs. The older woman was sitting on the couch with her laptop. It was barely eight o'clock, yet she was already dressed, with her hair done and her make up perfectly applied. It was like she was on show in her own home. "Can I get you some breakfast?"  
>"I'm good thanks." Paige shoved her hands in to the front pockets of her jeans, hunching her shoulders. "Have the FBI called again? Do you know if they've let my dad go yet?"<p>

"I haven't heard anything. You'll be the first to know when I do. Are you sure I can't get you something to eat?" Veronica tried again. "I could make pancakes? Or there's cereal? Whatever you feel like."  
>"I feel like going home." Paige's answer was met with the same thin lipped smile that Veronica had worn the night before.<p>

"I understand that, but it's not as simple as just sending you back to Pittsburgh. There are a lot of issues to consider. Nick McCullers is still under investigation for one, he also has no legal claim to custody of you. Family Services won't allow you to stay in his home whilst the FBI still considers him an accomplice to a child's abduction-"  
>"He didn't know!" Paige argued, unable to hold her tongue. "Neither of us did..."<br>"I'm sure the man will be exonerated if he's innocent. If that happens, we can look at the long term arrangements. In the meantime, I think we should plan on you being here for at least a few more days." Veronica knew full well that Nick McCullers had no legal leg to stand on when it came to custody of the teenager, whether he'd been complicit in the abduction or not. Paige wasn't his child. Even if he'd spent the last fifteen years raising her, he had no parental rights in the eyes of the law. Veronica couldn't imagine the headstrong teenager taking too kindly to that kind of news. It was better to keep her in the dark a little while longer.  
>"In that case I definitely need to go home. To pack a bag. I'll need my clothes."<p>

Paige wasn't sure whether the older woman would go for it, but Veronica conceded with a nod of her head. She wasn't about to let her newly found daughter wander half way across the state on her own though. "Of course. I'll ask Spencer to drive you." Paige's first instinct was to refuse the offer, but the prospect of taking the bus in to Pittsburgh wasn't all that alluring.  
>"Spencer would be happy to drive you." The girl in question announced as she came walking down the stairs. She was dressed in a pair of grey slacks, along with a shirt and a sweater vest. The collar of the immaculate white shirt looked like it had been starched within an inch of its life. It was like looking at a walking advertisement for the young republicans. "Only it'll have to be after lunch. I'm meeting Toby."<p>

"Okay, thanks." Paige had no idea who Toby was, though she could take a wild guess from the smile on Spencer's face. Veronica didn't look quite so happy at the mention of the boy's name. Paige wondered what her birth mother's expression would look like if she told her about her girlfriend. She'd never had the chance to tell her mom she was gay, she'd died before Paige had figured it out for herself. Her dad hadn't taken it very well at first; mostly because he'd come home early from a business trip, and walked in on her and Shana making out in the living room. He'd come a long way in the six months since he'd first found out his daughter was dating a girl. He hadn't exactly joined PFLAG, but he'd made an effort to take an interest in Paige's relationship. It had been more than she'd been expecting.

"I was actually thinking I'd walk around town for a bit, maybe take in the sights." Paige just wanted to get out of the house, especially if Spencer was going out too. Mother-daughter bonding time with Veronica wasn't exactly at the top of her to do list. "I can leave you my cell number." She added, trying to reassure the older woman that she wasn't just running off again; it wasn't like she had anywhere to run to. Her grandparents were all dead. Her parents were both only children. There were no aunts or uncles that could take Paige in if she ran away. There was Shana of course; her parents loved Paige like one of their own. They'd take her in without question, if she asked them to. The only problem was, she didn't want to ask. Paige knew all too well that her current predicament was because of her mother, but part of her couldn't help but blame Shana. If she hadn't pushed her in front of her to do that damn fingerprinting, then she'd still be none the wiser about her mother's crimes.

Paige was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she failed to really take notice of where she was walking, until she stopped in the middle of a street, having no clue where she was. She'd been pretty sure she'd be able to remember the way back to Main street. The coffee shop she'd been to last night seemed as good a place as any to waste an hour or two, particularly if Spencer's friend was working there again. She hadn't been paying enough attention to the passing streets though, so Paige McCullers found herself completely lost in the middle of a strange town. She'd taken both Veronica's and Spencer's cell phone numbers, as well as the land line for the house, but calling either of them seemed too much like admitting defeat. Paige glanced up and down the street, hoping to spot something familiar. It was like looking for water in the dessert. Nothing about the rows of houses, or the trees lining the streets rang a bell from her wanderings the night before.

She did notice a woman struggling with an armful of grocery bags though. She was trying to hold on to the bags while attempting to shut the trunk of her car over. One of the bags split though, sending tins rolling down the woman's drive. Paige shot forward without thinking about it, picking up the scattered groceries. "Thank you so much." The older woman had a warm, motherly, smile. "If I had a dollar for every time one of these bags has split on me, I could afford to have someone else do my shopping."  
>"That's what my mom always used to say." Paige laughed and shut the woman's trunk over for her. "Would you like a hand with these?"<br>"You're an angel." The woman sighed as Paige took another one of the bags from her. They carried the groceries up the drive and on to the porch. "My daughter has an uncanny ability to vanish from sight whenever I go grocery shopping. Speak of the devil; Emily, come help with these!"

Paige glanced over her shoulder and almost dropped everything she was holding as she spotted the woman's daughter running up the drive. It was Emily, Spencer's friend from the night before. She'd obviously been out running, seeing as she was wearing shorts and had her long hair tied back. She was breathing hard, and sweating slightly as she climbed the steps to the porch. Her attention wasn't on her mother. "Paige, hey." She greeted the other girl with a smile. "What are you doing here?"  
>"Your friend was nice enough to help me with the groceries." Pam answered for her, giving Emily a pointed look that had her moving to take the bags her mother was holding, so she could unlock the door.<br>"I got a little lost. I saw your mum struggling and offered to help." Paige explained as she followed Emily inside her house. She'd only intended to carry the shopping up to the porch, but she figured it was okay to go in.

"Thank you, Paige. Would you like some lemonade? I've got a fresh pitcher in the fridge." Pam didn't wait for the teenager's answer before moving over to the fridge. Emily shot the other girl an apologetic smile as her mother fussed around the kitchen, getting three glass tumblers out of one of the cupboards. Pam questioned how the two girls knew each other. She hadn't seen Paige around before.  
>"Mom, Paige is Spencer's sister. I mentioned it last night." Emily gave her mother a pointed look, silently trying to tell her not to make a big deal.<br>"Oh." Pam's expression changed slightly. Paige could see her opinion changing of her daughter's new friend along with it. She was looking at her with a mixture of sympathy and curiosity. Paige figured that was how most people in town were going to look at her, like some kind of side show to be whispered about.

"We've known the Hastings for a long time. They're a lovely family." Pam tried to recover as she handed out the lemonade. Paige fell silent, not really wanting to comment. She still hadn't met half of her so called family.  
>"How come you got lost?" Emily tried quickly changing the subject, sensing Paige's discomfort. "Haven't you got Spencer's number? I can get it for you if you want?" She offered, already pulling out her phone.<br>"I've got it. I just couldn't call out of pride. I wanted to take in the town on my own. Calling would have kind of been like admitting defeat, you know?"

"You're definitely a Hastings." Emily laughed. Coming from anyone else, the observation might have rubbed Paige the wrong way, but she let it slide. "How about I give you a guided tour?"  
>"That would be great, thanks." Paige eagerly accepted the offer. She'd only been hoping to run in to the other girl, so having Emily offer to give her a tour was a definite step up.<br>"Great. I'll just go get changed. I'll be right back." She discreetly managed to give her mother  
>a warning look on the way out. She didn't want to walk back in to the kitchen to find Paige being grilled.<p>

Emily quickly changed out of her running gear and in to a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt. She left her hair tied up for quickness, and sent Spencer a text to let her know Paige was with her. Her phone started ringing on the way down the stairs. She expected it to be Spencer calling her back, but it wasn't. "Hey sweetie. Lunch? Oh, I can't...my mom needs me to go grocery shopping with her, you know how she gets when my dad's away. Okay, I'll call you later. Love you too." Emily felt guilty about lying to her girlfriend like that, but Spencer was one of her best friends. She felt like she owed it to her to look out for Spencer's sister.

"There's not really a whole lot of town to see." Emily apologised an hour later, once they were sitting at one of the tables outside of the Brew. They'd walked around Rosewood, with Emily pointing out some of the main attractions. "There's the mall, the movie theatre, and the Brew. That's pretty much it."  
>"It's fine, kind of reminds me of home actually. We've got a mall and a handful of parks." Paige shrugged as she sipped at her coffee. "My friends and I spend most weekends in the city. We go catch a hockey game, or spend a couple of hours in the batting cages, stuff like that."<br>"So you're a jock?" Emily teased with a smile.  
>"Let me guess, that's a Hastings trait too?" Paige rolled her eyes, though a smirk was playing on her lips. She liked the other girl's smile; it was infectious.<p>

"Spence plays field hockey, and Melissa played hockey and ran track." Emily answered, confirming Paige's suspicions.  
>"I play hockey, and I also run track. Swimming is my main thing though. I just love being in the water."<br>"Me too." Emily's face lit up at the revelation. She and Paige had just seemed to click instantly, their love of swimming was just one more thing they agreed on. "I'm team captain for the Sharks. You should talk to coach Fulton about joining."  
>"Thanks, but I'm not going to Rosewood High. I don't plan on being in town for more than a few days."<br>"Oh." Emily couldn't quite hide her disappointment. She had thought the other girl would be sticking around for a while. The varsity team could definitely use some more strong swimmers; and if Paige's ripped arms were anything to go by, she'd be fierce competition in the water.

"Paige, Em!" Spencer shouted over to them from the other side of the street. She was holding some guy's hand, and he gave Emily a wave as they crossed the road. "Paige, this is my boyfriend Toby. Toby, this is Paige." Spencer introduced her sister and boyfriend to each other. They shook hands as they exchanged pleasantries. Toby had a firm grip and a charming smile. He had that 'boy next door' look about him. "I was just about to call, are you ready to go?"  
>"Sure." Paige had been ready to go home since the moment she'd arrived in Rosewood.<p>

"Great. Toby's going to come too, if that's okay? Em, why don't you come too?" Spencer seemed reluctant to be on her own for the long drive with her twin. She shot Emily a pleading smile, hoping she'd agree to come. She could use the backup, Paige was still effectively a stranger.  
>"Why not." Emily agreed. She didn't miss the grateful look Paige sent her way; she just hoped Samara, her girlfriend, wouldn't call to ask where she was - It would be hard to explain why she'd gone on a road trip with a girl she'd only just met.<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

"Wait, _you're_ the anchor for the Red Devils? You kicked my ass last season! That last home meet we went up against you guys, I set a personal best in the relay, and you _still _beat me." Emily exclaimed. She didn't seem too upset by the defeat though. She was grinning as she brought it up. She and Paige were sitting in the back of Spencer's car, with Spence and Toby up front. Emily had asked her which team she belonged to, and had figured out where she'd seen the other girl before.  
>"Sharks, right? From what I remember, you were pretty tough competition." Paige wasn't just trying to be nice. She had watched the Sharks' anchor throughout the whole meet, figuring she was going to give her some trouble in the relay. Paige had broken some of her own records trying to beat the other girl. "I'll have to look out for you this season."<p>

Spencer glanced up at the rear-view mirror, catching the exchange going on in the back. Her twin and her best friend seemed completely at ease with each other, like they had been friends for years, rather than just hours. It was the first time Spencer had seen her sister smiling. She made a mental note to ask Paige exactly which team she swam for; she had a feeling it was the same one as Emily. "You better watch out for me, I've been training like crazy all summer!" Emily laughed, challenging the other swimmer.  
>"Oh really? Well why wait for the next meet?" Paige wasn't the type to turn down a challenge. Up front, Spencer rolled her eyes at the two of them.<br>"Play nice, kids, or I'm turning this car around." It was an idle threat of course, they were already pretty close to Mt. Lebanon township.

Spencer stopped the car for gas at a station on the outskirts of the town. Paige and Toby climbed out to use the bathroom, leaving Emily alone in the car when Spencer came back. "So, you and Paige seem to be getting on like a house on fire...do you think she might be gay?"  
>"Why? Because if I get along with a girl she obviously has to be?" Emily scowled, taking Spencer's observations the wrong way.<br>"That's not what I meant and you know it." Spencer argued. "I dunno, she just seems pretty in to you."  
>"We both swim." Emily shrugged, playing down her own attraction to the other girl. She couldn't exactly deny that Paige was attractive, and Spencer was right about them getting along well. If Emily had been single she would have been tempted to find out if Spencer was right about her twin being gay. As it was, she'd been dating her girlfriend, Samara, for a few months. She wasn't looking to get involved with anybody else, but that didn't mean she couldn't get to know Spencer's sister a little better.<p>

Around the back of the gas station, Paige was on her phone to own her girlfriend. "Hey, yeah I'm fine. Sorry I didn't call earlier, things have been a bit crazy. I'm actually just outside of town, I need to pick up some stuff from the house. Does your mom still have that spare key my dad gave her? Great, I'll meet you there in twenty...yeah, me too." She wasn't quite as excited about seeing her girlfriend as she knew she should have been. Shana had been full of concern, asking how Paige and her dad were doing. Apparently the story had made the local news. As a minor, Paige's name couldn't be released, but it was a small town and gossip travelled quickly. Everybody would know by lunchtime. Paige trudged back to the car, wondering how to casually tell the others that her girlfriend would be meeting them at the house. She had no idea what Spencer and her friends were like, she couldn't exactly predict how they would react to finding out she was gay.

She decided to hold off from telling them. Instead, she climbed back in to the car and told the others that her friend was meeting them with her keys. It wasn't exactly a lie, just more of a half-truth. It didn't stand up for long though, not when they reached her house and Shana was anxiously waiting for her girlfriend. Paige got out to meet her. She'd barely taken two steps when Shana had thrown herself around her, kissing her desperately. "I don't think that's her _friend._" Spencer commented dryly as Emily and Toby politely averted their gazes. Spencer sounded almost smug about being proved right.

Paige felt she was being watched as she pulled back from Shana. She ducked her head, almost bashfully, as Shana cupped her cheek. "I missed you last night." The other girl sighed and leaned in for another kiss. Paige gave her a chaste peck on the lips, aware that Spencer and the others were staring at them. She wasn't big on public displays. Kissing in public had never bothered Shana though. They'd come pretty close a handful of detentions for making-out up against Paige's locker. "Who are they?" Shana noticed the others in the car, though it was mostly Spencer and Emily that held her attention.  
>"That's Spencer, her boyfriend Toby, and her friend Emily. Spencer's my sister. Apparently I have two." It still felt strange to talk about having sisters. Up until yesterday, Paige had been an only child.<p>

"Your sister's cute. I could go for the twin thing." Shana smirked. Paige took no attention, she was used to her girlfriend's sense of humour. The others got out of the car, on Spencer's urging, and Paige introduced them all.  
>"Guys, this is Shana...my girlfriend."<br>"No kidding." Spencer seemed to take the news that her twin was gay pretty well. Paige was grateful in one way, but disappointed in another. Part of her had been hoping for a reason for the Hastings not to want to know her.

"Nice to meet you Shana. I'm Spencer, and this is Toby and Emily." Spencer shook hands with her sister's girlfriend. Paige waited for the introductions to be over before heading inside the house. She left Spencer and her friends in the living room while she went upstairs to pack a bag. Shana went along with her. She grilled her on her new-found family and asked what was going on with her dad. Paige tried to be patient with her questioning, but she really didn't feel up to the Spanish Inquisition from her own girlfriend. Her answers were short and snappy as she went around her room, packing what she thought she'd would need. She figured it might take a few days for the FBI to clear everything up.

Shana picked up on her mood right away. She stopped Paige in her tracks, forcing her to finally look her in the eye. "You blame me for this, don't you?" She wasn't a fool. She knew how her girlfriend thought. She'd had her suspicions the night before, when Paige wasn't answering her calls. The way she was trying to avoid her gaze, pretty much confirmed her fears. "Because I didn't do that stupid fingerprinting thing and you did...I'm sorry Paige, but _I _didn't abduct you and lie to you for fifteen years-" Shana was abruptly cut off as Paige slapped her. They lapsed in to silence, staring each other down as Paige's chest rose and fell with the effort of trying to control her anger. She was literally shaking with the effort.

"Get out. I want you to leave."  
>"You don't mean that." Shana tried to move closer to her, but Paige took a step back. She wrapped her arms around herself, starting to shut down.<br>"Yes I do!"  
>"Fine." Shana threw her hands up. She knew there was no point in arguing with her girlfriend when she was so worked up. "Call me when you've calmed down. We can talk properly." She pressed a kiss to Paige's cheek, while the other girl stood stiffly. Paige slumped down on to her bed as Shana showed herself out. Her hands covered her face, and she winced as she heard the front door slam.<p>

"Paige? Are you okay?" She looked up from her hands and found Emily hovering by her door. "Sorry, I wasn't eavesdropping, I was just looking for the bathroom." Paige brushed the apology off, Emily probably hadn't wanted to hear the fight anymore than she had.  
>"It's fine. The bathroom's the next door on the right."<br>"Thanks." Emily looked like she wanted to say more, to check that Paige really was doing okay, but she didn't. She left the other girl to her packing.

Downstairs, Spencer and Toby were standing in the living room, waiting for Paige to finish gathering her things. They watched Shana storm out of the house without saying a word. She'd looked pretty pissed. "What do you think that was about?" Spencer quizzed, but Toby just shrugged in response. They didn't have long to dwell on what might have happened with Shana. A few minutes after she'd left, they heard a key scraping in the lock of the front door. Spencer got her first glimpse of Nick McCullers as he walked through the door, and scowled at the teenagers standing in his living room. He looked tired and run down, and there was a couple of days worth of stubble on his chin.

"Who the hell are you?"  
>"Paige!" Spencer called up for her sister, but the other girl was already coming down the stairs. She almost knocked her father over as she launched at him throwing her arms around his neck. Nick took a step back to steady himself, but held on tight to his daughter. The other teens looked away, feeling like they were intruding. Emily had followed Paige down the stairs. She stood at the bottom, trying to shrink back out of sight as Nick looked up and spotted her. He didn't pay her much attention though, his attention was firmly fixed on Paige.<br>"I'm so sorry baby. I had no idea...I'm sorry." He buried his face in to Paige's shoulder, trying to hide the tears that were streaming down his cheeks.

Emily moved from the foot of the stairs. She gave Spencer a pointed look as she headed for the door. The other girl didn't budge, but Toby got the message and tugged on her hand so she'd follow him out the door. "I don't think I should be leaving Paige alone with him!" Spencer objected, before the door had even shut behind them.  
>"Spencer, the man raised her for the last fifteen years. I doubt he'd do anything to hurt her." Toby pointed out, earning himself a glare.<br>"He wasn't meant to be here! He's still supposed to be in FBI custody! Mom will freak when she finds out about this! What are you doing?" Spencer's head snapped up as Emily took her phone out of her hands. "Spence, remember when we were younger and Melissa used to tattle on you _all _the time? You hated it."

"This isn't anything like that!" Spencer argued. "That man in there abducted her! He should be rotting in a jail cell somewhere!"  
>"Paige doesn't see it that way. She won't thank you for calling your mom." Emily stared Spencer down, still holding on to her phone. She only gave it back once the other girl reluctantly agreed not to make the call.<p>

"They released me on bail." Nick sighed as he slumped down in to one of the recliners. Paige sat on the arm of the chair beside him. She'd usually be told off for it, but Nick wasn't paying attention. His hands were rubbing at the stubble on his face. "They're happy I was overseas when...when it happened. They've bailed me while they make their enquiries. They want to make sure I didn't know about any of it...I still can't believe it, what she did..."  
>"I don't care what she did. She's still my mom, no matter what anybody else says." Paige held her head high. Despite everything she was feeling, anger towards her mother wasn't included. "And you're still my dad...right?" As happy as she was to see him, Paige was worried that her father wouldn't feel the same way. He'd just found out the daughter he'd raised wasn't really his own flesh and blood. Paige had no idea what had happened to the other baby. Only her mother knew that for sure.<p>

"Of course I am!" Nick sat up straighter in his chair, his eyes fixed on the teenager. They were wide, and red raw from crying. "I don't care what a blood test says. _I'm _your father. _I'm_ the one who held your hand on the first day of school. _I _ taught you how to ride a bike, how to swim...nothing can take that away. Nothing can make that mean any less."

"So I can come home then?" Paige asked, getting her hopes up. She watched as her father's expression tightened. She'd seen that look once before; when she'd arrived at the hospital and asked him how her mom was doing after the car accident. He'd stared at her, his eyes watering and his bottom lip quivering. His knees had buckled after that, and he'd dropped to the floor in a heap. The image of her father, beaten and broken, was still seared in to Paige's mind two years later. "Dad?" Nick dropped his gaze. He couldn't look at her.  
>"I don't have any parental rights. The FBI made that quite clear. I can speak to a lawyer, but those people...The Hastings are both lawyers. You'd be eighteen before we even got to court."<br>"They can't make me go back to that town! We could run away. My passport's upstairs. We could go to Canada or Mexico-"

"Paige. They have my passport." Nick took hold of both of her hands in his own as he brought their faces together, resting his forehead against hers. "That was one of my bail conditions. You know I'd do anything for you, but running away isn't the answer. You're in your last year of school. You've got college to think of. We can't let something like this get in the way of you getting in to Stanford."  
>"Maybe I'll go to UPenn instead." Paige sighed as she pulled back. Stanford had been her dream school for years, but moving across the other side of the country suddenly seemed far too far from her dad.<br>"You'll do no such thing." Nick tried to make his tone authoritative, but his voice started to crack. "You've got a bright future ahead of you. Don't let this mess ruin that. You have to go back with them for now, but we'll figure something out. I'm not giving you up without a fight."

Outside, Spencer and the others were sitting back in the car. "It's getting late, we should be going home. " Spencer had already dodged two calls from her mother in the time they'd been waiting in the car.  
>"Give them some time." Emily urged. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to find out her dad wasn't actually her dad.<br>"Here she comes now." Toby nodded towards the figure stepping down from the porch. Paige had her hands shoved in to the pockets of her jeans, and her head down. She was carrying two suitcases, and Nick was following after her with two more. Paige hadn't packed everything, but it had finally started to sink in that she wasn't coming home any time soon. She'd need to take what she could.

Toby jumped out to help with her bags. Taking them from her, he placed them in the trunk of the car. "My bike..." Paige suddenly remembered her pride and joy sitting in the garage. She couldn't leave it behind.  
>"It should fit in the back." Toby assured her, the Toyota Highlander had plenty of space in the trunk.<br>"I doubt it." Nick muttered as he tossed the other two cases in to the car. Paige ran off to the garage to fetch her 'bike'.  
>"Mom is going to flip..." Spencer's mouth hung open as Paige pushed a sleek black motorbike out on to the drive.<p>

"Is that a Softail Night Train?" Toby marvelled over the Harley as he went over for a closer look.  
>"1999 model." Paige answered proudly. She and her dad had spent the previous summer doing the old bike up. Nick had an almost identical one in the garage. His father had been a grease monkey. Although Nick hadn't followed in his footsteps and became a mechanic, he still knew his way around an engine. He'd passed his knowledge on to Paige.<br>"You and Toby could start your own motorbike gang." Emily joked as she climbed out of the car to get a better look at the chopper.  
>"Want to ride back with me?" Paige offered, catching the other girl off guard."I've got a spare helmet." She was grinning at Emily like she was offering her a challenge and waiting to see how she would react.<p>

"Em, your mom will kill you!" Spencer shouted from the driver's seat of the car. She hated Toby riding his bike around town, the thought of her sister and her best friend riding along the freeway on one had her sick to her stomach.  
>"Come on, Em. Take a walk on the wild side." Paige held out the spare helmet for Emily. Biting her lip, the other girl took it, accepting the challenge. Spencer rolled her eyes at the two of them, while Toby shut the trunk.<br>"We'll meet you back in town. Mom is going to have something to say about the bike!"  
>"I bet she will." Paige smirked. She was counting on it.<p>

The others took off first, leaving Paige to say goodbye to her dad. She hugged him while Emily stood to the side, fiddling with the strap of the helmet she'd been given. "I'll call you every day." Nick promised as he held his only daughter in a crushing hug. "Be good. Stick in at school and work on your times. Remember to eat properly when you're training...I love you Paigey Penguin."  
>"Love you Papa Bear." Paige mumbled back, not caring that Emily could hear her. She pulled her own helmet on and pushed down the visor, so the other girl couldn't see she her starting to cry. Throwing a leg over the bike, she revved the engine as Emily climbed on behind her. She gingerly wrapped her arms around Paige's waist, but she wasn't holding on very tight. "You'll have to hold on tighter than that." She moved her hands to cover Emily's, making sure she got the point; the roar of the engine blocked out the sound of Emily swallowing hard behind her.<p>

Paige loved the freedom of being on her chopper on the open road. It gave her the same kind of focus that swimming did. With her attention firmly on the road, her mind didn't have time to wander. Even the other swimmer pressed up against her wasn't the same kind of distraction it would have been any other time. Emily wasn't feeling quite so serene. She was clinging on to Paige for dear life. Her grip only tightened as Paige let rip, tearing up the road as quickly as the speed limit would allow. It didn't take them long to catch up to Spencer and Toby. Paige managed to keep up with the car for most of the way back. Once they hit town, she turned her head back to look at Emily over her shoulder as they stopped for a red light. "Want me to take you straight home?"  
>"No! My mom would ground me for life!" Emily laughed right by her ear. "Just drop me off at Spence's. I'll walk back."<p>

They pulled up outside the Hastings' just after Spencer and Toby. Emily had to go straight home for dinner, but Toby stayed around to help with Paige's bags. Veronica was waiting for them inside the house when they all trudged in. "Toby, could you make that bike any louder?" She began, and it was clearly a conversation she and Spencer's boyfriend had shared before.  
>"Actually, it was mine." Paige cut the older woman off before she could start lecturing Toby.<br>"Yours? You have a motorcycle?" Veronica looked at her like Paige had just told her she had a pet Viper. "Well, we'll have to talk about that." Her lips formed a tight, thin line as she fought back a frown.

"Here's the deal." Paige put down her case, staring her birth mother right in the eyes. "I'm stuck here until I'm eighteen. I get that now; but I can be a _real_ pain in the ass if I want to be. You want me to tow the line and play happy families? Then I get to keep my bike." Paige didn't wait for an answer. Picking her bags back up, she went straight upstairs to her room. Toby followed after her with the other two bags, barely biting back a smile. Spencer was smirking as she watched her twin go. The expression on her mother's face was priceless. "Well, _you_ wanted her to be a Hastings; it looks like she's living up to expectations."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading and for the awesome feedback people have been leaving. I've been off work for the last month, but I'm going back this week, so updates might not be as frequent. I'll try and make the chapters longer to make up for it. **


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey...I guess you're still sleeping, or you're just ignoring me." Paige swallowed hard as she moved her phone from one ear to the other. "I should have called sooner. I've been thinking about it all night, about you. I'm an ass, and I'm terrible at apologising...I don't know why you're with me. I guess I've never known why someone like you would even want to be with someone like me...I know we've been having problems, and I know it's my fault. I'm the one who's been pulling away; even before all of this stuff with my parents. This weekend was supposed to change all that. It was supposed to fix everything...but now we're more broken than ever. I'm sorry. I want to make this work, Shana. I might not always show it, but I love you. Call me back when you're up, please." Paige let out a deep sigh as she hung up.

She'd been up most of the night, thinking about how things had gone down with Shana, and about her mom and dad too. Paige usually went running in the mornings, but her routine had been shot to hell over the weekend. She'd promised herself she'd get back on track come Monday morning. Paige was a creature of habit, she'd always had structure and routine in her life; change wasn't something she coped with well. That was probably why she had blown with Veronica the evening before. Paige had spent the rest of the night holed up in her room. Spencer had tried knocking on her door a couple of times, but she hadn't answered. Eventually her sister had given up trying.

"Paige, good morning." Veronica greeted her as she walked in to the kitchen. The older woman offered her a cheery smile. There was no mention of what Paige had said to her the night before. "Would you like a cup of coffee? I've just made a fresh pot."  
>"Thanks." Paige took a seat at the breakfast table while Veronica poured her a coffee, she had to ask how she took it. "I'm sorry about last night. I was out of line and I shouldn't have spoken to you the way I did." Veronica seemed more taken aback by the apology than what Paige had actually said to her. She'd had countless arguments with Spencer and Melissa over the years, but neither of them had willingly apologised to her without the threat of some kind of punishment hanging over their heads.<p>

"It's very big of you to say that, but it's not necessary. You were upset, it's understandable given the circumstances." Veronica acknowledged. "I know this transition isn't going to be easy, but I'm willing to work at it, if you are? I'd like to get to know you better." Paige's birth mother wanted to reach over and take her hand, but she was worried she'd pull away, so Veronica kept her hands wrapped around her mug instead.  
>"I'd like that." Paige agreed. Underneath all the anger and confusion, there was a healthy dose of curiosity. The woman sitting in front of her had given birth to Paige seventeen years ago, and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't interested in knowing more about her.<br>"Great." Veronica beamed at her. "I thought we could go to the tennis club for brunch?"

"Could we maybe do lunch instead? I was hoping to catch the morning mass at that church over on Main." Veronica seemed to take a moment to assess whether she was being serious, or if it was some kind of ploy to get out of spending time with the strangers who claimed to be her family.  
>"Sure. We can all go, then we'll head straight to the club. I'll go tell your sister to hurry up and get dressed."<p>

"Why are we even here? It's not Christmas yet, is it?" Spencer complained loudly as she slid in to a pew near the front of the church. The Lutheran Church of Rosewood was a modest structure, with simple wooden pews and a pastor that only looked to be a few years older than Paige's father. Nick McCullers was a church deacon. He took his duties pretty seriously, so the church had always been a constant in Paige's life; it felt comforting to be sitting somewhere almost familiar. Veronica sat up straight as she frowned at Spencer for her remark. She pointedly chose not to answer, not that Spencer was deterred. "Did somebody die?" Veronica's glare deepened, but Paige didn't seem to notice the mother and daughter squabbling beside them. She'd spotted a familiar face amongst the congregation.

Pam Fields was sitting a few rows ahead of them. She waved when she noticed Paige and the other Hastings. She was sitting beside a man who must have been Emily's father. He had strong, broad shoulders and short cropped thick black hair. Paige recognised a solider when she saw one. She'd grown up around enough of her dad's navy buddies. Pam's husband turned his head to see who she was waving at, and offered Paige a warm smile. He had the same soft, kind eyes as his daughter.

Paige had to wait until after the service to be introduced to him. Pam made a beeline for the Hastings once the pastor was finished. She exchanged pleasantries with Veronica before introducing Paige and Wayne. The soldier greeted her with a firm handshake. For all he was smiling, Paige could see the unease in his eyes; he'd probably heard all about her on the evening news.

Pastor Ted made his way over to the group, curious about the new faces. It wasn't often that the Hastings family attended church. They were generous donors when it came to fundraisers and the like, but they seldom attended mass. "Veronica, it's nice to see you here." Ted was a jovial kind of man. He was in his early forties, with salt and pepper hair that gave him an air of maturity. "And who's this?" He pretended not to know, like he hadn't read all about Paige's abduction in the morning paper.  
>"Pastor Ted, this is Paige. My youngest daughter." Veronica placed a hand on Paige's shoulder, and she did her best not to flinch as she forced a smile. She'd promised to try and make an effort with her birth mother, but she wasn't big on people touching her.<p>

"Ah, I think I caught something about that on the news this morning. If I can be of any help, whether it be spiritual guidance, or just a friendly ear to listen." Ted shook Paige's hand with a earnest look on his face. It was easy to see what had drawn him to the priesthood, the man practically oozed sympathy.  
>"Thank you Father. I was actually hoping to ask you about volunteering. My dad's a Deacon at Mt. Lebanon Lutheran. I've grown up in the church my whole life, I'd like to be involved here."<br>"Well we'd love to have you. We need some young blood around here. How about you Spencer? Feel like helping out?" Spencer had clubs and extra curricular activities coming out of her ears, not to mention all of her AP classes, she didn't have time to volunteer for anything else.

Veronica ushered them out the church, promising the pastor she would try to attend mass more often. She drove the girls to the Tennis Club, her usual place of worship on the weekends. Paige had always considered her family to be moderately well off, comfortably middle class, but she felt out of her depth at the club. It wasn't her kind of place, she kept expecting someone to come over and ask her to leave. Veronica had chosen a table outside on the veranda, overlooking some of the tennis courts. It was a seasonably warm day, without a single cloud in the sky. The sun was hot against Paige's neck as she studied the menu. Spencer and Veronica knew what they were having without needing to even glance at it; another painful reminder that Paige was the outsider amongst them.

For the first time, she allowed herself to wander what it would have been like to grow up a Hastings, to spend the weekends at the country club, and to grow up with siblings. Up until Friday she'd been an only child,so she'd never had to fight anyone else for her parents' attention. Paige was yet to meet her older sister. She wondered if she would be another carbon copy of Veronica, like Spencer seemed to be.

"So, Paige, do you play tennis?" Veronica quizzed as the waiter brought them their starters. She was trying to keep the conversation light. She had a thousand burning questions for the teenager, just waiting on the tip of her tongue, but she didn't want to come across like she was cross examining a witness on the stand. Paige would need time to adjust before Veronica could get the answers she wanted.  
>"A little." Paige shrugged. "I prefer hockey though."<br>"We should have a game of one on one some time." Spencer suggested. Paige recognised the competitive look in her eyes and shot her a grin over the table.  
>"You're on."<p>

Veronica watched the exchange with an amused smile. The twins had been nigh on inseparable as babies. It was nice to see them getting along so well, it was a sight Veronica had never expected to witness again. She'd resigned herself to believing that her youngest child was dead. That had been the only way she'd been able to cope after the abduction; she'd clung to the belief that her child was no longer suffering. During her darkest days, her mind had conjured all sorts of theories as to why the youngest twin had been taken, and none of them were anywhere near pleasant. It had almost come as a relief to know that Paige had been taken by someone who had only wanted to raise her as their own.

"We could come and play doubles once Melissa gets home." Veronica suggested, eager to spend time with all of her children. Spencer looked like she would rather chew broken glass, but Paige was looking forward to meeting her older sister. She wasn't sure how she would feel about meeting her biological father though. Even before her mom's death, she had always been closer to her dad. As much as she would deny it if ever asked, Paige McCullers was a daddy's girl at heart. She couldn't imagine ever calling anyone else 'dad'. It played on her mind for the rest of lunch, where she sat quietly, mostly letting Spencer and Veronica do all the talking.

Paige excused herself to go the bathroom just before they were leaving. Once she was safely out of sight of prying eyes, she slumped forward against one of the expensive porcelain sinks. She was trying her best to keep it together, but she was struggling. Paige wanted to get to know Veronica and the family she had been taken from; but at the same time, it felt like the closer she was growing to the Hastings, the further her old life was slipping away from her. The last thing she wanted was to lose herself. It had taken Paige seventeen long years to figure out who she was, and what she wanted, and suddenly it felt like the carpet had been ripped right out from under her feet. She took a few deep breaths, trying to hold her own gaze in the mirror as she willed herself to go back out and face her new family.

Paige paused outside in the lobby. She'd been in such a rush to find a bathroom that she hadn't bothered to notice the route she'd taken. The teenager had completely lost her bearings in the vast club, she had no idea how to get back to the dining room. She stopped a young guy, wearing a crisp white uniform, and asked him if he could help her. He looked barely older than Paige herself, with thick curly hair and a pleasant smile. "Sure thing, Miss. It's-"  
>"Paige!" Spencer called from further down the hall, waving her twin over to her.<p>

"Never mind, there's my sister." The word tasted foreign on her tongue, but also oddly familiar. The young club employee frowned as he caught sight of Spencer.  
>"I didn't know Spencer had another sister."<br>"Neither did she." Paige answered cryptically, leaving the boy puzzled as she walked away without further explanation.  
>"Why were you talking to Alex?" Spencer demanded, her expression guarded as she waited for an answer, as though Paige and the boy were embroiled in some kind of conspiracy together.<p>

"I forgot how to get back to the dining room." Paige shrugged, not exactly sure why she had to defend herself for talking to someone. "What's the big deal?"  
>"The big deal is he's my ex, okay?" Spencer grumbled. Tennis Club Boy was clearly a sore spot for the older twin, so Paige let it drop. She didn't need to pick a battle with someone she was being forced to share a house with. "Mom told me to come get you, we're heading back. She's on the phone with Dad, his flight's been cancelled. He won't be home until tomorrow morning." Paige felt a rush of relief at the news. She wasn't quite ready to meet any more new family members yet. Veronica had told her Melissa would be arriving home on Monday too, so it looked like she would get to meet both her father and her sister in the same day; it would be a lot to take in. Paige wasn't sure she was strong enough to keep up with the façade that she was doing okay with all of it.<p>

* * *

><p>In a hotel room in New York, Peter Hastings loosened his tie and undid the top button of his shirt. It was already past noon, so he felt no guilt about the glass of Scotch he had in his left hand. He glanced up at the blonde walking out of the bathroom; that was something to feel guilty about. His family were waiting for him back in Rosewood, including the daughter who'd been taken fifteen years ago, yet there he was; miles away from home, spending the weekend in a hotel room with his mistress. The worst about it was that he didn't actually feel guilty. The affair had been going on for so long that Peter had become numb to the feelings of guilt and remorse which had first plagued him when the illicit relationship had started.<p>

He swallowed what was left in his glass before placing it back down on the side table by the edge of the bed. The blonde moved closer to him. Dropping on to his lap, she helped him out of his jacket before removing his tie. He sighed against the side of her cheek as she slipped her hand under his shirt. They both had families that they were supposed to be with, families that were broken almost beyond repair. Peter wasn't sure what had stopped him from walking out. He liked to think that somewhere deep down he still loved his wife, but the truth was their relationship had been on rocky ground even before their youngest daughter's abduction, and it had only gone downhill afterwards. "I told Veronica my flight was cancelled... I can stay one more night."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to update. I've had a couple of health issues lately and I've just gone back to working full time, so I've not had as much time to write. Thanks for reading, and for the amazing response to this fic.**

* * *

><p>"So, what's the deal with you and that guy from the club?" Paige questioned her twin as soon as Veronica left them alone long enough. She'd been hovering around Paige all afternoon, ever since they'd got back to the house, like she was scared the teen would try and run off again. Spencer glanced over her shoulder before answering, checking to see Veronica was still safely in the kitchen. The oldest Hastings was busy making dinner for the three of them.<br>"Alex and I used to date; mom wasn't too keen on me _frolicking _with the help." Spencer rolled her eyes. Veronica Hastings had always been quite vocal about her daughter's choice in boyfriends. Luckily, Spencer had ignored both of her parents when they had tried to warn her off Toby.

"Okay...should I bring up my rampant homosexuality before, or after dinner?" Paige joked, while managing to keep her expression completely straight. Spencer snorted with laughter, just as Veronica walked back in to the room. She smiled at the sight of the two girls getting along so well.  
>"What are you two laughing about?"<br>"Nothing." The twins answered in unison, which just caused another round of conspiratorial giggling between them. It was easy to laugh about it, but Paige had no idea how her birth parents would react to finding out about her girlfriend; that was if she even still had one. Shana was yet to call her back.

Paige had always been proactive. She couldn't just sit around waiting for Shana to decide to call. Excusing herself from the room, she headed out in to the backyard for some privacy. The phone rang and rang as Paige anxiously paced up and down the patio, waiting for Shana to answer. She couldn't blame her girlfriend for being mad at her, Paige had been out of line when she'd slapped her; and she'd been beating herself up about it all weekend. Sure, she had a short temper, but she had never struck someone before; well, not off the hockey field anyway.

"Hello?" Shana's tone was dry as she finally answered, but Paige still let out a sigh of relief at the sound of the other girl's voice. Shana wouldn't have answered if she was still too mad to forgive her; the girl new how to hold a grudge.  
>"God, I've missed your voice." Paige's grip on the phone tightened. She leant back against the side of the converted barn, and waited with baited breath for her girlfriend to speak.<br>"I got your message. You're right, you're an ass; but you don't completely suck at apologies." Paige felt the tightness in her chest starting to ease as Shana finally spoke up.  
>"I'm sorry." She repeated her earlier apology. "Just tell me how to make it up to you. Name it, and I'll do it."<p>

"I can think of a few things." There was a teasing lilt to the other girl's voice, and Paige could just picture her girlfriend smiling in to the phone. "We can start with the meet tomorrow. You're still going to show up, right?" The swim meet against Jefferson High. Her weekend had been so hectic that Paige had forgotten all about the upcoming meet. Jefferson were stiff competition, and as captain and anchor, Paige's team would be counting on her to get them through it.  
>"I dunno if I can still compete." She admitted in a defeated tone. Now that the dust had settled, she was only just starting to think about all the ways her life was going to change. She'd have to transfer to Rosewood High. She'd be swimming for a new team; a team that had previously been the enemy.<br>"Have they enrolled you in school there yet? I mean, everything happened Friday afternoon, chances are you're still registered here. Technically, you'd still be a student, you could compete as a Red Devil one last time."

"It'd be nice to say goodbye to the team." Paige conceded, suddenly wanting to go to the meet more than anything else. She had been team captain since Junior year, she owed the girls and her coach one last meet. "I'll talk to Veronica, see if she's registered me at Rosewood High yet. I'll call you right back." Paige hung up and set about heading inside to find her birth mother. Spencer had gone up to her room, so Veronica was sitting on her own in the living room. She had her laptop out on the coffee table in front of her, and a pair of reading glasses were perched on the top of her head as she skimmed through the document she was holding in her hand. Paige felt nervous about approaching her, even when Veronica looked up and smiled at her. The woman was still virtually a stranger.

"Hey, Veronica. I was wondering what was happening with school. I mean, are you enrolling me in Rosewood High, or-"  
>"I've got the paperwork right here." Veronica answered, holding up the papers for Paige to see. "Don't worry, I was thinking you could take a few days off to adjust first; maybe start next Monday?" The teenager felt an immediate sense of relief. If Veronica hadn't finished the paperwork yet, then she was still technically attending her old high school. She could still swim for them.<p>

"That would be great, thanks...I was thinking, I've got a swim meet tomorrow afternoon. It'd be nice to go, just to say goodbye to the team and stuff."  
>"I think that's a good idea. I could take you if you'd like? I need to pick up your school records anyway."<br>"Oh." Paige hadn't been expecting the offer. Seeing her friends hadn't been the only reason for her wanting to go to the meet. "My Dad's never missed a meet. He'll probably be there too; and a lot of people are going to be talking about what happened. I don't really want to cause a scene at my last swim meet." Paige felt a flood of guilt for not wanting her mother there, but she still couldn't really think of Veronica Hastings as her mom. To her credit, Veronica handled it well. There was only the slightest twitch of reaction on her face, which she fought to conceal.

"Well, we could drive up there early. You can talk to your friends and see Nick while I get your records from the school office. I'll just slip in quietly to watch the meet. Nobody needs to know who I am, or why I'm there." Veronica's smile was patient, though strained. She was trying her best to meet Paige halfway.  
>"And you won't mind if I see my dad?" Paige asked. In her whole life, she'd never spent more than a few nights away from her father. She'd only seen him the day before, but she was already missing him like crazy; maybe it was because she knew she was never really going to go home again. Rosewood was her home now, and the Hastings were her parents; Paige had no say on either issue.<p>

"Agent Tanner is quite positive that Nick McCullers had no idea you weren't his. In a way, he's as much a victim of all of this as you and I. I'm not going to stop you from seeing him. We've got a lot to figure out, but I think this will all go a lot more smoothly if we're all on the same side. I've already missed out on fifteen years of your life, I don't want to waste any more time by fighting you on every last thing. There are a lot of decisions to be made, and whether Peter and I like it or not, Nick needs to be part of the process."

Paige was stunned by her answer, and her honesty. She stepped forward, taking Veronica by surprise as she hugged her. It was quick, with Paige's arms wrapping around Veronica's shoulders for only a second before she pulled back, but it meant the world to Veronica. Her face lit up as Paige took a step back, hastily shoving her hands in to the pockets of her jeans as she hunched her shoulders up, closing back in on herself. "Thanks." She offered her birth mother a meek smile. "I'm just going to call Shana and tell her I can swim."

"Is Shana one of your friends?" Veronica quizzed, oblivious to her youngest daughter's sexuality.  
>"Uh...yeah, sort of." Paige replied vaguely. She'd bonded with her birth mother enough for one day, Veronica didn't need to know everything about her in one go. "She's on the team too. I guess she'll get captain when I'm gone."<br>"Rosewood has an impressive swim team, Spencer's friend Emily is the captain of the girl's varsity."  
>"Yeah, we met." Paige pulled out her phone, reminding herself that she had to go call her girlfriend; she was the only swimmer Paige was meant to be thinking about. "I'll be back down for dinner."<p>

* * *

><p>"You have a twin, and you didn't tell any of us?" Hanna Marin shouted at the top of her voice, attracting the attention of just about everyone else in the cafeteria; and earning a scowl from Spencer.<br>"I only found out Friday night! We got the DNA results on Saturday. Mom wanted to keep it quiet, out of the papers." It hadn't worked though. The press had caught wind of the story from someone at the bureau. Tanner was trying to weed out the leak, but the damage had already been done. The news was out, and all eyes were on the Hastings family. Spencer had only taken two steps down the hall before someone had asked her about her twin. Hanna had been furious to find out about it on the morning news.  
>"What's she like?" Aria quizzed, more curious than angry.<p>

"She's nice." Emily spoke up, realising too late what she'd said. The eyes of the other girls narrowed on her as they picked up on what she'd said.  
>"You've met her?" Hanna sounded indignant that Spencer had already introduced Emily to her new found sister.<br>"We ran in to each other." Emily shrugged, a light blush touching her cheeks. Spencer's twin had been pretty impressive. Even Emily's mother had raved about the girl when she'd met her at church on Sunday. Pam had gone on and on about how nice it was to see someone so young, choosing to be active in the church. "She's a lot like Spence." Emily smiled, making sure her friend knew that she meant it as a compliment.

"That's not fair. I want to meet her too!" Hanna protested. "Why isn't she at school?"  
>"Han, she <em>just<em> found out she was abducted as a baby. Even _my_ Momisn't harsh enough to send her to school yet. She's enrolling next week." Spencer explained, making Hanna's face twist.  
>"I'm not waiting a week! Let's skip out after lunch!"<br>"I don't know..." Spencer wasn't sure Paige would appreciate being ambushed by her friends; but the others were keen to meet her, and Spencer knew from experience that Hanna wouldn't quit whining until it happened.  
>"Fine. We can go at the end of lunch." The older twin finally conceded. At least she'd have time to call Paige on the way over, to warn her that they were coming.<p>

That had been the idea anyway, but Paige didn't pick up. Spencer had tried calling twice, but she got put through to Paige's voicemail both times. She half expected to go home and find Paige and all of her stuff missing. The door was unlocked when the girls arrived at the house, so Hanna walked right in. Aria and Emily followed her. They were all still standing just inside the front room when Spencer walked in. She was about to ask what was going on, when she spotted Paige doing push-ups at the bottom of the stairs. She was wearing boxing shorts and a muscle vest, with her hair tied back in a messy ponytail. She had her earphones in and her iPod cranked up, so she was oblivious to the audience that was watching her. Emily was trying to discreetly avert her gaze from Paige's muscular back and shoulders, but Hanna had no problem openly staring at the other girl. "Wow..."

Spencer rolled her eyes at the blonde, then moved to tap Paige on the shoulder. The younger twin jumped, surprised by the intrusion. She pulled her earphones out as she scrambled to her feet, noticing Spencer's friends standing by the door. "Uh, hey. I didn't hear you come in." Paige flushed. She'd been passing the time by working out, trying to catch up on the training she'd missed over the weekend. Her body had felt slow and sluggish when she'd first started, as though it was protesting the two days of rest she'd had. The young athlete had worked up a sweat, with strands of her hair sticking to her head. "Hi, Emily." She tossed the other swimmer a wave.

"Paige, these are my friends, Hanna and Aria. Guys, this is Paige, my sister." Spencer made the introductions. Aria gave the youngest twin a warm smile as she greeted her. Hanna, who had never been one for social boundaries, stepped forward for a hug. Paige awkwardly returned it; she wasn't big on hugging. With everyone staring at her, she felt like some kind of circus act. None the less, she tried to be polite with Spencer's friends.  
>"It's nice to meet you all. If you don't mind, I'm just going to grab a shower." Paige excused herself upstairs. She wasn't trying to be rude, she just had to be ready for Veronica to pick her up for the meet. After a quick shower, she changed in to her costume and pulled her warm-ups on over it. She tugged the zip of her jacket right up to her chin. She'd spilt coke all down the front of it after the last meet, but her dad had managed to get the stain out.<p>

The jacket was once again sparkling white. Its sleeves were blood red, the same colour as her pants; as well as the red devil emblazoned across her chest. It would be the last time Paige would get to wear it. She touched her fingers to the captain's 'C' on her sleeve. She felt like she was letting her team down by giving in so easily; but there was no way she could commute to Mt. Lebanon for school everyday, and still keep up her grade average. "Good luck with your meet." Paige jumped as she turned around to find Emily standing outside of her door. She'd been passing Paige's door to go to the bathroom, when she'd spotted her standing in front of the mirror, staring at the white C on her sleeve.  
>"Thanks." Paige let her hand drop back down to her side. She'd felt uneasy around Spencer's other friends, but Emily was different. The girl had struck a chord with her on her first night in Rosewood, and Paige felt inexplicably comfortable around her.<p>

"I spoke to my coach today, Coach Fulton, she said you can drop by our next practise. It's tomorrow. If you're not too tired after today." Emily tucked her hair back behind her ear, and Paige found herself watching her closely. She was an attractive girl, and she probably had some big jock boyfriend who liked having her on the end of his arm.  
>"I won't be. Tired, that is...I'll be there." Paige reassured her. She felt bad about leaving her team behind, but she wasn't too proud to join the Rosewood Sharks; her whole future depended on getting a swimming scholarship.<br>"Great. We're just downstairs if you want to come back down? That is, if Hanna didn't scare you too much?" Emily teased, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth; Paige wasn't sure how it was possible, but the other girl was even more stunning when she was smiling. The thought left a rock hard lump of guilt in the pit of her stomach, causing her to look down and away.  
>"I'll be down in a minute, I just need to finish packing my bag."<p>

Emily went back downstairs on her own. She caught the girls talking about Paige's abduction, and Hanna wasn't exactly using her indoor voice. "So a crazy woman just took her when you were babies?"  
>"Hanna!" Emily barked at the blonde. She dropped her voice to a low hiss, "That <em>crazy woman <em>raised her for fifteen years. I don't think Paige would appreciate hearing you call her that."  
>"Sorry, <em>Mom.<em>" Hanna huffily rolled her eyes at her friend, but Spencer shot Emily a grateful look. The situation was sensitive enough, without Hanna putting her foot in it. She was on her best behaviour by the time Paige came down to join them; or at least what passed for Hanna's best behaviour.

"You're got crazy muscles, you must work out all the time, huh?" Hanna wasn't exactly shy about it as she felt up one of Paige's biceps. She'd ended up sandwiched between Emily and the blonde on the couch. "Uh, yeah. Swimming keeps me in pretty good shape." Paige shrugged, deliberately tensing the muscles in her arm.  
>"You swim too?" Aria quizzed, trying to make conversation. Like the rest of the girls, she wasn't quite sure what to say to Spencer's new sister. "Emily's a great swimmer."<br>"Yeah, but she's not this ripped." Hanna pointed out, still holding on to Paige's arm.  
>"Han, could you do me a favour, and <em>stop<em> feeling up my sister?" Spencer glared at her. "God, that's never a sentence I ever expected to say."  
>"Yeah, because I wouldn't <em>dare <em>to touch the Ice Queen." Scoffed Hanna.  
>"Ice Queen?" Paige frowned, not sure what they were talking about.<p>

"Melissa." Spencer answered with a frown of her own, though it was aimed at her friends. "We don't really get along all that well. You know what it's like with older siblings...or not." She faltered. Paige just shrugged again. She tried to be discreet as she checked the time on her watch. Veronica would be home to pick her up for the meet in just over an hour. Paige had already called her dad to let him know she was going to the swim meet, and that Veronica was okay with him being there. It felt weird, telling her own father that he had permission to see her. So much had changed in the space of a few days; Paige couldn't wait to get back in the pool. The water seemed to be the one constant in her life right now.

Peter Hastings, her biological father, was due back that evening, and she was nervous about meeting him. Her older sister was supposed to be flying home the following day, and Veronica had spoken about her and Peter's parents coming over at the weekend. The prospect of meeting so many new family members was more than a little daunting for the seventeen year old. Paige had never had a big family before. Her mother's parents had died before Paige was born, and her dad's parents lived down in Texas, so she didn't get to see them all that often. She'd been happy back at home, even if it had just been her and her dad.

Suddenly, being around Spencer and her friends all seemed too much. Paige's throat was starting to close up and her breathing was growing shallow. She was getting overwhelmed again. She could feel another panic attack creeping up on her. Excusing herself from the living room, Paige headed in to the kitchen, under the pretence of getting a glass of water. Once she was out of sight of the other girls, she slumped against one of the kitchen counters. She was struggling to get a handle on her anxiety.

"Paige?" Her eyes closed over as she heard a voice behind her. She'd fled in to the kitchen to escape from the room full of strangers. Emily had followed her though. "Are you okay?" Her voice was full of concern. If there was one thing Paige hated, it was being pitied. Her frustration helped to ground her, and she just about managed to pull herself together as she turned to face the other girl.  
>"I'm fine...just trying to find a glass." She put little effort in to the lie, but Paige at least managed to force a smile. Emily didn't look convinced, but she played along. Walking right up to the other swimmer, she reached in to the cabinet behind her head, and pulled out a glass. She presented it to her, wearing that smile that Paige found so endearing. "Thanks."<br>"No problem. Good luck with tonight, and don't forget about training tomorrow. I've talked you up to the Coach."  
>"Really?" Paige felt a genuine smile tugging at her lips. "Well then, I'll try not to disappoint either of you."<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

Paige stared absently at the road passing her by. She was sitting up front in Veronica's car, with her cheek lying against the warm glass of the window. The mid-afternoon sun was beating down on the car as they drove up the interstate, heading towards the only place the teenager had ever called home. She had her earphones in, with her music cranked up loud enough to block out the noise of the passing traffic. She wasn't trying to be rude, or ignoring Veronica, it was just part of her normal pre-meet ritual. Paige needed the music to focus her mind; Emily could understand that.

She was sitting in the back, sandwiched between Hanna and Spencer. When Hanna had found out that Paige was competing at her old school she'd pleaded for them to go and watch her. Paige had been hesitant to agree to them coming along. She hadn't really wanted Veronica there, but at least the older woman had agreed to keep a low profile. Hanna had been insistent though, even promising to sit with the away crowd. Her wide, pleading eyes had worn down Paige's resolve, but it had been Emily's hopeful expression that had broken through her defences; she wasn't sure how anyone could possibly say no to that face, so she'd given in and allowed them to come. Veronica had seemed almost disappointed to find out it wouldn't just be the two of them driving up. The lawyer was an expert at masking her emotions though, so she hid her dismay well. She was torn between desperately wanting to catch up on fifteen years of her daughter's life, and trying to give the teenager her space. Veronica felt like she was walking a tight rope without a safety net, and that she might fall off at any second. It was still early days though. Paige had only been back with them over the weekend, and it would take a lot longer than three days for things to settle down.

Once they reached Mt. Lebanon, Veronica pulled over for gas and the girls piled out to stretch their legs. Emily and Spencer went off to find a bathroom, while Hanna went inside the store to buy a soda. Paige stayed put, slunk down in the front passenger seat. Her eyes strayed to the wing-mirror, and she caught Veronica glancing back at her, as though she were afraid the teenager might take off at any minute.

Paige knew the streets around her as well as she knew the back of her hand. They were parked at the GetGo gas station on Washington Road. It would be easy for Paige to take off without Veronica having a hope of following her, but then where would she go? She was seventeen, still legally a minor. If she ran home then the authorities would just turn up and toss her back to Rosewood. There was also the fear that her dad could get in to even more trouble if she tried running away. At least Veronica had agreed to let him come to the swim meet. It had only been a couple of days, and she'd spoken to him every night on the phone, but she was already missing her dad like crazy; for the longest time, it had only been the two of them.

"Hey." Paige took advantage of being alone in the car to call Shana. She could hear the excited chatter of the rest of the team in the background as her girlfriend greeted her. Shana had probably stepped up to rally the other swimmer for the upcoming meet, a job that usually fell to Paige. She wondered how long the other girls would wait to elect Shana as their new captain; if they hadn't done so already. "We're at the gas station on Washington, we should be there in five." Paige explained, trying not to dwell on it. Her athletic ability had always been the thing that had set Paige apart from her peers; swimming in particular. The thought that her own girlfriend could replace her so easily was a daunting one.  
>"We?" Shana sounded surprise. "Who's with you?"<p>

Paige glanced up at the rear view mirror, catching sight of the others girls walking back towards the car. "Just Veronica, and Spencer and some of her friends. They're going to sit with the away crowd. I told Veronica I don't want a scene. Today's about saying goodbye to the team, not having the entire student body gossiping about me. Speaking of not causing a scene...I haven't told Veronica about you yet. Can you just-"  
>"If you're about to ask me to pretend to be straight, don't bother."<br>"I'm not asking you to _lie! _Just...don't get pissed if I don't introduce you to her."  
>"Paige, you already introduce me to your Mom, and she was an awesome lady. I don't care about meeting this Hastings woman." The warmth returned to Shana's voice as it softened again. "I'm just dying to see you. Get here soon, okay?"<br>"Okay." Paige agreed. Shana always seemed to know just what to say to her. "I'll be there in a minute." She was pretty sure she'd heard Shana telling her she loved her just as Veronica climbed back in to the car and Paige hung up.

"Everything okay?" Veronica quizzed. The woman seemed to have a constant worry line etched deep in to her forehead; it was hardly unexpected. Paige could only imagine how overprotective her biological mother had been of her other siblings after she'd been taken.  
>"I'm gay..." Paige blurted out, with all the grace and elegance of a punch to the face. She couldn't live a lie. She had hidden herself away from the world for so long, and coming out to her father had been the biggest relief. Her mother hadn't lived long enough for Paige to come out to her, but part of her was confident that she'd known; mothers were always supposed to know.<p>

"Oh." Veronica struggled to take in the bombshell that her youngest daughter had just dropped on her. There were a lot of things that she didn't know about her daughter, and it would take time to learn everything. Her sexuality hadn't been the place Veronica had expected to start though. Paige sat in the front passenger seat, trying to gauge the older woman's reaction to her admission. "Do you have...is there somebody special?" The teenager felt her whole body relax. Veronica seemed to have taken the news well, even trying to show an interest in her love life.  
>"Yeah. Her name is Shana. We've been dating since last year. She's on the swim team too."<br>"Well, you'll have to introduce us some time." Veronica's smile was perhaps a touch too strained, but to her credit she was still tying to make an effort.  
>"Sure. Maybe after the meet?" Paige suggested, trying to meet her halfway. Her birth mother nodded, managing a more genuine smile.<p>

Once the others girls were all back in the car, they carried on towards the school. Paige's shoulders felt a little lighter after finally confessing her sexuality. She still asked Veronica to drop her off just before they reached the school; she didn't want to make a scene after all. "The administration office is through the main door and right down the hall. They'll tell you where the natatorium is. The meet starts at four!" Paige all but jumped out of the front seat, taking her gym bag with her and tossing a careless wave over her shoulder. She ran the rest of the way, and made it to the locker room just as the last bell sounded. Some of the girls were already there, changing in to their costumes and stretching. Shana was among them.

Paige walked right up to her girlfriend and greeted her with an enthusiastic kiss. "God, I've missed you." She sighed, really meaning it. Despite how rocky their relationship had been lately, going the weekend without seeing her had reminded Paige of just how much she cared about the other girl. It had been a long time since Paige had been so affectionate, particularly in public, but Shana wasn't about to protest.  
>"Paige! What's going on? We heard what happened Friday..." One of the freshman girls, who pretty much idolised the older swimmer, asked the question that was playing on everyone else's minds. As much as she didn't want to make a big deal out of her leaving, Paige knew she owed her team mates the truth. She cleared her throat as she took a step away from Shana, addressing the whole locker room.<p>

"I know there are a lot of rumours flying about right now, and there's a ton of stuff on the news; but my mom was a good a person. I don't fully know what's going on right now, but what I do know is that this is the last time I get to be your captain. I have to move schools, so this is my last meet with you guys. Let's make it count, okay?" Paige had been trying for something upbeat, but she was met by a sea of distraught faces. A couple of the younger girls even looked like they were about to burst out crying. It wasn't the send off Paige had wanted. She'd been hoping to rally the others, to fire them up and claim one last victory as a team. Instead, their captain seemed to have taken the wind right out of their sails. She was second guessing whether she should have even turned up at all, when she felt Shana's hand slip in to her own.

"You heard your captain! We're wining this thing today! No excuses, no exceptions! We're doing it for Paige!" Shana's war cry was met with a chorus of cheers. She was a natural leader, and Paige wouldn't be surprised if the girls had already voted her in as their new team captain. The atmosphere changed again and an excited buzz fell over the locker room as the team started hyping itself up to take on their rivals.

Outside, in the natatorium, Veronica and the girls had found a spot to sit on the away team's bleachers. There were plenty of parents and students sitting there already, so they hardly stood out. Veronica had her chin bent down as she skimmed through Paige's transcripts. She didn't have a chance to read them in any depth, but from what she could see, her youngest daughter was just as intelligent and athletic as her twin. She'd had a few detentions over the years, mostly in her freshman year, but she was hardly a troublemaker. Veronica frowned as she noticed Paige had been seeing the school councillor for some time. She made a note to look in to it further. "Mom, isn't that Mr McCullers?" Spencer pointed out as she spotted him sitting down on the home side. The banker hadn't gone in to work that morning, so he wasn't wearing one of his usual suits. Instead, he was wearing an old pair of jeans and a college sweater. There was at least two days worth of stubble on his chin, and he was wearing the haunted look of a man who had lost everything. The other parents around him were clearly discussing what his dead wife had done, and they didn't seem to be trying to hide it as Nick slumped down even lower on the bench. He held his face in his hands as he stared glumly at the floor.

"Mr McCullers?" He looked up to find Veronica Hastings looming over him. The lawyer was dressed immaculately in a power suit, with her hair and make-up flawless. She had been where Nick was now though, and she knew all too well what it felt like to lose a child. "Do you mind if I sit?" She gestured for the empty space beside him. Nick nodded up at her. He tried to sit up a little straighter, but he still looked like a broken man.  
>"Be my guest." His voice was raw and gravelly, as though he'd been crying. "Paige said it was okay for me to come. I brought her medical records with me. I got them from our doctor this morning. There's not much there, she's always been as healthy as a horse." The single father's voice cracked mid sentence. He'd always thought Paige's good health came from his side of the family.<p>

"Thank you." Veronica took the papers from him, and sat them down on the other side of her. Nick had expected her to stand and leave straight away, but she hung back. "How are you holding up?" Her concern caught him by surprise. He was literally left staring at the other woman as he tried to conceive of a way to put just how he was feeling in to words; he couldn't. All the bereaved father could do was shake his head. Veronica understood his pain. She knew all too well what it was like to lose a child. "I know how hard this must be for you, and for Paige too. Her world must seem like it's falling apart right now. She needs structure and support, and whether I like it or not, that has to include you." That caught Nick's attention.

"I don't expect Paige to cut you out of her life. If she's anything like Spencer, then she'll come and see you no matter what my husband and I have to say about it. Things are up in the air right now, but once the dust settles we can come to some kind of arrangement on visitation. Maybe she could come up here on weekends?"  
>"I'd like that..." Nick choked out, elated by the woman's offer. His lawyer had already made it clear that he had no legal rights to the girl he considered to be his daughter. Veronica wasn't obliged to allow him any access, so he would be grateful for what he could get. "Thank you so much. I don't know what to say..."<p>

Veronica had thought long and hard before making the offer. She'd spent the weekend mulling it over. She accepted that Nick McCullers was just as much a victim as the Hastings themselves were. He'd raised someone else's child for fifteen years, believing her to be his own. He'd been overseas when his wife had snatched Veronica's youngest child at the mall, the FBI had verified that. They seemed happy that he had been in the dark about what his partner had done, and despite everything he'd learned over the weekend, it was obvious Nick still loved Paige with all his being. It didn't matter that she wasn't his flesh and blood; he still looked at her and saw his daughter. "We'll sit down with Paige and see if we can't come to some arrangement that will make everybody happy."

"Hey, Mr M!" The two adults were interrupted by one of the girls from the Devils' swim team. She threw her arms around Nick in a crushing hug. "Paige is just finishing getting dressed. She'll be out in a minute. Oh, and my Dad said to tell you you're welcome to come over for dinner tomorrow night. Mom's making pot roast."  
>"Thanks Shana, I'll give your folks a call when I get back." Tuesday night dinners with Shana and her parents were a regular thing for the McCullers. The two families had grown close in the time the girls had been dating, though it would be strange to be over there without Paige. "Hey, Kiddo!" Nick's eyes lit up as he spotted his daughter climbing up the bleachers. She hugged him, much like Shana had, and tried not to look guilty about it while Veronica looked away.<p>

"Nick and I were just discussing the possibility of you maybe visiting him on the weekends. If that's something you'd like?"  
>"Are you kidding me?" Paige was grinning from ear to ear as she looked to her father for confirmation. He nodded, and Paige felt like all of her Christmases had come at once. Seeing her dad once or twice a week was better than not seeing him at all.<br>"We'll need to discuss it with Peter, but I'm sure he'll agree with me on this. This situation is bad enough without us making it any harder on you."

"Thanks." Paige wasn't sure what else to say. Her father had always taught her that actions spoke louder than words. She bent over, and gave Veronica the briefest of hugs. She pulled back just as quickly as she'd leant forward, and then made an excuse to take off. "I should go warm up." She tugged on her girlfriend's hand to get her to follow, showing no intentions of introducing her to Veronica.  
>"Good luck out there." Veronica smiled up at her, even more certain that she'd made the right decision in letting Nick McCullers carry on being part of her daughter's life. She needed to find a way to get Paige to start trusting her, letting her see the man she considered to be her father seemed to be the most obvious way to achieve that. They were still taking baby steps, but Paige was already beginning to open up to her; it was a start.<p> 


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Sorry for the super long wait for an update. I appreciate everyone who's still reading and leaving feedback. I'm trying to get back on track with my writing after some health issues. This isn't exactly a long chapter, I just wanted to get something posted.**

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><p>"Hey Superstar, what can I get you?" Emily beamed at Paige as the other swimmer walked up to the counter at the Brew. Emily had only left the Hastings' a couple of hours ago, when Veronica had dropped her off for the start of her shift. Paige had been quiet and withdrawn for the entire drive home. She and the rest of the Devils had smashed the competition, but the victory had been bitter sweet; it was the last time Paige would lead her team.<p>

Back at the Hastings' ranch, Paige had sat on her bed, anxiously staring at the clock as she waited to meet her biological father. Veronica had told her they were expecting Peter home around nine. By eight o'clock, Paige had been ready to climb the walls. She'd grabbed her jacket and taken off on her bike. She always went riding whenever she needed to clear her head, but since moving to Rosewood, she'd found a new way to blow off steam; a trip to the Brew.

"I'm not sure. I need something that's a post-meet pick me up, but also low in caffeine. I'm meeting Peter in an hour and I already feel like I'm about to crawl out of my skin." Paige answered honestly, finding it oddly easy talking to the virtual stranger. An even wider smile stretched across Emily's lips as she nodded in understanding.  
>"One hot chocolate, with extra whipped cream, coming up." She set about making the other girl's drink for her, but refused to take her money when Paige offered it. "It's on me...you can get the next one."<p>

"So that's two drinks I owe you now, and a muffin; at this rate I'm going to owe you a whole dinner." Paige smirked at her. She only realised how that sounded once she'd said it. Internally cursing herself, but grateful Emily hadn't seemed to notice, she quickly changed the conversation. "I've been thinking about it, and I'd definitely like to crash your practise tomorrow...meet your coach. I need to get back in the water. Sometimes it feels like swimming is the only thing keeping me sane; which probably sounds insane-"  
>"It doesn't." Emily insisted. She leant over the counter to place her hand on Paige's arm. The gesture that was obviously meant to be comforting, but it just left the other swimmer feeling all the more unsettled. She had barely known Emily for more than three days, and the other girl's touch alone already had her stomach in knots.<p>

"...If you want me to drive you home?" Paige was too distracted to realise Emily had just asked her a question. She looked back up again, just in time to catch Emily looking at her expectantly. She felt her cheeks go red as she all but admitted that she hadn't been listening. Emily just laughed it off with a smile and repeated her earlier question. "I said I'm finishing soon, if you want me to drive you home?"  
>"Oh, thanks, but I've got my bike...you should let me take you for a ride sometime." Paige knew she was skating on thin ice. She had Shana, and Emily was straight, but that didn't seem to be able to stop her from opening her mouth.<p>

Emily laughed again, the sound like music in the quiet coffee shop. "Thanks, but I think my parents would probably freak out."  
>"What, if you were on a motorbike? Or if you were on a bike with a strange girl?"<br>"Don't put yourself down, McCullers; you're not _that _strange." Emily was trying to suppress a grin as Paige feigned offence. It almost seemed to Paige like she was flirting back.  
>"So does that mean you'll come for a ride with me sometime?" She tried pushing her luck, but something in the other girl's expression changed. Her smile wavered, and she took an abrupt step back from the counter. Paige was about to ask what was wrong when she noticed a group of girls approaching the counter, lead by a blonde, who greeted Emily with a cheerful wave. They were probably her friends.<p>

"I should go." Paige quickly made her excuses before she could feel too much like a third wheel. She slipped out the door, failing to see the way the Emily greeted the blonde with a kiss. The cold air outside slapped her square in the face, a harsh reality check. What was she even doing, flirting with someone like Emily Fields in the first place? Things were already screwed up enough without her adding girl troubles to her ever increasing list of problems. "Shake it off, McCullers." Paige growled to herself, while pulling on her helmet. She had to get the other girl out of her head.

A light rain had started while she was inside the Brew, it was nothing too heavy, but she would have to be more careful on the drive home. She took the rain soaked roads slowly, paying particular attention at the crossroads. She made it all the way back without incident; but at the end of her street, the door of a parked car without it's lights on suddenly opened. Paige's tyres screeched in protest as she brought the bike to an abrupt stop, swerving across the road to avoid hitting the man who had stepped out of the unlit car. The wet road provided little traction, and the bike slid out from under her. Paige's instincts were to tuck and roll as she bailed.

Her ears were ringing and her blood was boiling as she clambered back to her feet, struggling with the strap of her helmet. There was a deep gouge in the side of it, where the road had taken a bite of the plastic; it could just have easily been her head. "Jesus, son! What is your problem?" The middle aged man who had stepped out of the car started screaming at her. "Have you ever heard of watching the god damned road!?" He rounded on her, just as Paige managed to finish fumbling over the buckle keeping her helmet on. She deliberately tossed the helmet with all her strength, aiming for the wind-shield of the guy's car. She'd landed on her throwing arm, so the helmet fell short, bouncing harmlessly off the side of the road.

"Back off, Asshole!" She shoved the guy as he got right up in her face, shouting his mouth off about her being blind. He was a white guy in his forties, cleanly shaved and wearing an expensive looking suit; he looked every bit the entitled, rich jerk he was. "You're the one who was parked with no lights on!" The man rubbed awkwardly at his jaw. He clearly knew he was at fault, but he wasn't about to back down to some mouthy teenager. He tried the other default argument.  
>"What is a little girl like you doing on something like <em>that,<em> anyway?" He jerked his thumb at the bike, which was still lying sprawled on the side of the road. There were scratches all down the side of the body, but thankfully the damage just looked superficial. "What are your parents thinking-"

"Don't you dare!" Paige lost what little control she had left. Days of grief and anger seemed to well up all at once, the jerk who had caused her to wipe out getting the full brunt of her wrath. He shrunk back, edging back towards the car as Paige give him another hard shove. "My parents are good people! Better than anybody in this shitty town! Don't you dare say a word-"  
>"Pete? Should I call the police?" A blonde woman poked her head out of the passenger window, cradling her phone to her chest. The noise startled Paige, and she stopped in her tracks, realising she was making a scene.<p>

"It's fine Jessica... I was in the wrong." The man, Pete, shook his head at the woman in the car. The rain was coming down thick and fast now. Both he and Paige were soaked to the bone. He ran his hand through his thick, dark hair, pushing it back to stop the drops of rain that were falling down in to his eyes. "I'm sorry. Are you okay? Can I get you some help, or call someone? I can give you something for the bike?"  
>"Forget it...my Dad can fix it." Paige turned away as he started reaching in to his wallet. Waltzing over to the car, she scooped her helmet, receiving a sneer from the mature blonde woman up front. Paige ignored them both. Walking a little stiffer as she picked up her bike, she began slowly pushing it up the street, towards the Hastings' ranch.<p>

"Paige? What happened?" Veronica was all over her the second she limped in to kitchen. She'd pushed her bike in to the carport around back, hoping to slip in the back door unnoticed. Lady luck wasn't smiling down on Paige though. Veronica had been making a coffee when she'd shuffled in the door, looking like a drowned rat.  
>"Nothing. I'm fine." It was a lie. Searing hot tears were burning in her eyes as she wiped her growing bangs out of her face.<br>"You're not fine!" Veronica was fussing over her, trying to help the teen out of her jacket; the thick leather was probably the only reason her side wasn't covered in road rash. "That stupid bike-" The older woman fell silent as Paige suddenly wriggled out of her jacket and let it drop to the ground. Tears were rolling down her face as she stared blankly down at it.

She crumpled, her knees giving out on her. Veronica caught her youngest daughter before she hit the floor, cradling her as she started to cry. It had been a long time since Paige had felt a motherly embrace. Veronica rubbing her back and whispering soothing words in to her ear, just made her cry all the more. They sat right there on the kitchen floor for a good ten minutes while Paige let it all out. Spencer walked in on them at one point, but quickly walked back out after a stern glare from her mother. It was the closest Paige had let her birth mother get, and Veronica missed the contact as soon as the teenager pulled away from her. Wiping at her eyes, she mumbled something about going to clean up. "That's a good idea. Go have a nice hot shower and I'll bring you some hot cocoa up." Veronica moved to brush Paige's hair back from her face, but the younger girl stiffened, her walls quickly going back up. She couldn't look at her birth mother as she got back to her feet and hobbled out of the kitchen.

"Are you okay?" Spencer stood by her open door as Paige reached the top of the stairs. The younger twin nodded, still too choked up to speak. "Your leg looks pretty beat up. I'm glad that whole 'twins feeling each other's pain' crap is all BS." Spencer gave her a wry smile, going for humour over pity. It made it easier for Paige to face her. Her lips managed to curl up, just slightly; though she lost her smile as she finally caught sight of the large tear in her jeans. There was blood around the frayed edges of the ripped fabric, it was coming from three deep scratches on her calf. "Want some help with that?"

Paige nodded again, limping towards her older twin's room. She collapsed down in the chair by the side of Spencer's bed. Her jeans were already ruined, so she didn't say a word as Spencer took a pair of scissors to them, cutting open the denim to get better access to the scratches. She had a first aid kit in her closet, a must have for any serious hockey player, and she fetched it, setting it down on the footstool in front of the chair Paige was slumped in. The younger girl winced as Spencer took an antiseptic wipe to the scratches. "They're not too bad, you shouldn't need any stitches."

"I didn't realise you were pre-med." Paige snorted, though there was no real malice to her tone. Spencer was probably the only member of her new family that she felt almost comfortable around. Maybe it was something to do with them being twins, or that they were the same age. Either way, the easy camaraderie between them made Paige feel at ease in the other girl's room. "Hey, Spence?"

"Yeah?" Spencer looked up from finishing securing a bandage around her sister's leg.  
>"Thanks for this, for the uh..." Paige rubbed awkwardly at the back of her neck. She'd grown up an only child. She wasn't used to having a sister to look out for her. "Just...thanks."<br>"No problem. I wouldn't thank me until you've seen my bill." Spencer teased, managing to drag a small chuckle out of the other girl. She held her hand out for her, helping Paige to get back up on to her feet. They took a slow walk to Paige's room, Spencer taking on most of her weight.

They heard the front door open just as Paige dropped down on to her bed. "Veronica? Spencer?" A strong, masculine voice called out. Paige felt her heart sink as she realised it was Peter Hastings; her biological father. Spencer could see the unease written all over the other girl's face. Paige had been through enough for one day, she wasn't ready to face meeting any new family members just yet.  
>"I'll tell Mom you fell asleep, that should give you until the morning at least."<br>"Thanks." Paige was grateful for the last minute reprieve. She kicked off her tennis shoes, while Spencer closed the door over behind her.

"Hi, Dad." Spencer walked down the stairs to find her parents by the front door. They were standing conspiratorially close, no doubt discussing Paige.  
>"Spence." Peter greeted his daughter with a hug and a kiss to the cheek. He was soaked through from the rain, his hair flat to his head and his overcoat dripping on to carpet. He looked back expectantly up towards the stairs Spencer had just come down from, waiting with baited breath to meet the child who had been stolen from him.<br>"Paige is sleeping." Spencer quickly covered for her younger twin. "I think she had some kind of accident tonight."  
>"An accident?" Peter frowned, instantly concerned. "When? What happened?"<br>"I couldn't get much out of her. It's been a rough few days. She's okay though..." Veronica's voice cracked slightly as she reached for her husband. "Our baby's finally home."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: So, I haven't given up on this fic! I took a break from it to finish off my other, much longer, Paily story first. I've also stopped watching PLL and I'm finding it a little hard to write for the fandom at the moment. I have every intention of finishing this off though! This is a short chapter, but writing it has drawn me back in to the story, so hopefully I'll have a much longer chapter up soon.**

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><p>Paige woke with a start. It was light out, and she was still wearing the clothes she'd fallen asleep. She'd managed to pull on a pair of shorts after Spencer had cut her jeans off, but she'd pretty much passed out straight after that. Paige winced as she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She'd slept on her side, and the deep gashes in her calf had opened with a vengeance. Blood stained the once pure white bandages that Spencer had applied for her. Some of it had even seeped out on to the sheets.<p>

She got out of bed with a groan, testing just how much weight she could stand to put on the injured limb. The curtains were drawn, blanketing the room in an inky blackness that was almost impenetrable. Paige stubbed her toe on the dresser on the way to the door. She had recited every cuss word she had ever learned by the time she reached for the doorknob.

Limping at a snail's pace down the stairs, she was suffering just as much with the aching in her ribs. The injured teen made her way through the living room and in to the kitchen. She was too absorbed in the pain to remember there was an extra member of the family in the house. She stopped short of the door as she spotted a man standing by the kitchen sink. He was facing away from her, staring out at the back yard. A solid lump rose up in Paige's throat. She took stock of her biological father, hardly impressed by what she saw.

Nobody could ever replace her dad. In her eyes, Nick McCullers was, and always would be, her father. This other man was a little shorter than Nick, and broader in the shoulder. His hair was the same colour as Spencer's, though speckled with grey on the sides. Even with his back to her, Paige recognised the man from the night before. She swallowed hard, waiting for him to turn around and face her.

"I guess I made quite the impression last night." Peter Hastings' voice was softer than it had been the previous night. When he'd been yelling at her. He turned from the window, offering her a patient smile. Despite his pleasant expression, his posture was defensive. Peter stood with his arms crossed over his chest, leaning against the counter top. "You were asleep when I got back last night. I went up to check on you, I could hardly believe it... It's funny how things turn out."

"Hilarious." Paige replied dryly. Picking up where she'd left off, she carried on limping towards the refrigerator. Helping herself to a can of diet coke, she held it against her forehead; she was burning up. The aching in her ribs and the stabbing pain in her leg had been joined by a new friend – a persistent pounding in her head. She had also started to feel nauseous. Though, that could have been to do with the revelation of just who her father was. Paige was less than impressed by the source of half of her chromosomes.

"Are you okay?" Peter frowned and took a step towards her as he took in her pallor. The teenager was pale and sweating. The soda can dropped from her hands and rolled across the floor. Paige almost followed it as her legs gave way underneath her. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as it slammed down against the side of the counter. She heard Peter calling her name as she went down, only it wasn't her name. Not really. "Kathryn!"

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><p>"What?" Paige demanded as the young doctor treating her gave her yet another sidelong glance. He'd been sneaking glances at her for most of the exam. It was unnerving, to say the least, and Paige had never been one to bite her tongue.<p>

"Sorry." The man apologized sheepishly, not even trying to deny the fact that he was staring at her. He was cute, in a stuffy kind of way. His British accent was clipped and sharp, with no hint of a regional dialect. The doctor obviously came from money. He'd get along just fine with the Hastings.

"It's just… You're…" He faltered, trying to choose his words carefully. Paige decided to put him out of his misery.  
>"The kid who was abducted? <em>Twice.<em>" She managed a crude smile, making the doctor snort with laughter.

"Fair play." He nodded, wearing a boyish grin that had probably broken a lot of hearts over the years. "I was actually going to say you're a Hastings. This is, uh… a little awkward. There's a reason your father looked like he was ready to punch me when I walked in to the room earlier."

"He's not my father." Paige snarled defensively. She made the mistake of scrunching her face up and popping one of the sutures that the doctor had just put in above her eye.

Paige had struck her head on the side of the kitchen counter when she'd passed out. Despite insisting she was fine, when she _eventually_ came back around, neither Perter no Veronica had listened. They'd rushed her off to the Emergency Room at Rosewood General Hospital.

Thinking back on it, Peter _had_ looked like he'd been ready to rearrange the young doctor's face for him when he'd first walked in to the room. Paige had kicked up a fuss about the Hastings staying in the room with her, insisting she wasn't some five year old who needed to be chaperoned. She'd been so busy kicking them out that she hadn't caught the doctor's name.

"I'm Wren, by the way. Wren Kingston. And I can't imagine how hard this must be for you." Putting down the suture kit and peeling off his latex gloves, he offered his hand out to her.

Paige shook it warily. "If this is where you try and give me a lollipop, I'm walking." Wren laughed at that. Shaking his head, he held his hands out in front of him.  
>"It's nothing like that. I swear. I was engaged to your sister."<p>

"Spencer?" Paige frowned. She couldn't imagine Veronica letting her seventeen year old daughter get engaged to someone so much older. Wren chuckled again, his boyish smile seemingly etched permanently on to his face.  
>"No. God no. Uh, Melissa. I was engaged to Melissa."<p>

"Oh. I haven't met her yet. She's supposed to be flying back from London or something." Paige shrugged. "It's weird. All my life I thought I was an only child, and now… I've got sisters coming out of the woodwork." She let out a huff of air, rubbing at one of the stitches that was placed over her eyebrow. It was really starting to piss her off.

"So, what happened with you and Melissa? I take it things didn't end well?" Wren finally lost his easygoing smile at the question.  
>"Ah, no. No they didn't…" The young doctor had his eyes glued to the tablet in his hand as he read through Paige's medical history.<p>

"The stitches should dissolve in a few weeks. You have signs of a mild concussion, but nothing too serious. I'd prescribe Tylenol and plenty of rest. I uh, I looked at your file. It seems you haven't filled your prescription this month. Do you need me to write you one?"

"It slipped my mind." Paige admitted with a shrug. "My Dad usually takes care of that stuff. I have some Haldol left over. I need more Zoloft though."

"Not a problem." Wren pulled his prescription pad out of the pocket of his white coat. He wrote out a script and handed it over. "That's us all done here, but if you need anything, anything at all, Spencer has my number."  
>"Thanks, Doc."<p>

"Paige. How are you feeling?" Veronica fussed over her younger daughter the second she walked out of the exam room. Peter stood at a distance, looking aloof.

"Fine." Answered Paige, rubbing absently at her butterfly stitches. She'd made sure to tuck the prescription Wren had given her in to the back pocket of her jeans. "I probably did more damage to your counter."

"Don't worry about that." Veronica shushed her. She placed an arm around the teenager's shoulders, holding her almost gingerly. Paige tried not to flinch at her touch. She already felt bad about making Veronica worry.

The older woman had been in a near panic when she'd walked in to the kitchen and found Paige passed out on the floor; bleeding profusely from the cut to her head.

Peter, however, didn't share her concern. "Veronica, dear, are you okay to drive yourselves home? I've got a meeting with a client in half an hour." Glancing down at his watch, Peter Hastings could barely bring himself to look at his youngest daughter. For Paige, the feeling was mutual.

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><p>"Okay, Mom. Sure, I'll be straight home after class." Spencer hung up the phone to her mom and let out a frustrated sigh. "There goes my night with Toby."<p>

"What's up?" Emily looked up from her own phone to ask what was wrong.  
>"Paige wiped out on her bike last night. Now she's got a concussion and Mom wants me home to babysit. I was supposed to be going over to Toby's tonight. What with everything that's been going on lately, we haven't really had that much time alone together."<p>

"I could go check on her? If you wanted?" Emily suggested. "I don't mind."  
>"Don't you have plans with Samara?"<br>"She's working tonight." Emily answered quickly. A little too quickly.

Spencer knew her friend well enough to know when something was amiss. "Is everything okay with you two?"  
>"Yeah. Everything is great." Emily managed a weak smile. "It's just… this time of year… With Maya's birthday coming up…" She didn't need to finish. Spencer leaned in for a hug, silently consoling her. They didn't talk about Maya that much anymore; it was just too hard for Emily.<p>

After their last class of the day, Emily and Spencer both got in to their respective cars, with Emily tailing Spencer all the way back to the Hastings' ranch. Walking in through the back door, the girls found Paige in the kitchen, raiding the fridge.

"Nice stitches, Frankenstein." Spencer teased. Despite not having known her twin for very long, they had quickly built an easy kind of rapport.  
>"That makes no sense. Frankenstein was the doctor, not the monster. Ergo, no stitches." Paige replied in a dry tone, earning an eye roll from Spencer.<p>

"There's no denying you two are related." Emily chuckled at the two sisters, drawing Paige's attention. Her face lit up at the sight of Emily.  
>"Hi, Em."<br>"Hey."

"I need to go get changed. Toby's picking me in twenty minutes." Spencer announced, though the other two girls barely seemed to notice her leaving.

"How's your head?" Emily asked once they were alone. "Spence said you wiped out on your bike?"  
>"Yeah…" Paige rubbed awkwardly at her forehead. "Long story. I'm fine though. I blacked out for a second and hit my head. Everyone just totally overreacted."<p>

"Well, I'm glad you're okay." Emily smiled sheepishly at the other girl. "Um, do you have any plans tonight? Spencer's going over to Toby's and I figured _we_ could hang out for a bit?"

"Veronica asked her to babysit me, didn't she?" Paige saw right through Emily's innocent act. "And Spence has plans, so she passed the buck on to you. Am I right?"  
>"No. No, Spence didn't… I… I volunteered." Emily answered honestly. "You do owe me a coffee."<p>

"Two." Paige corrected her with a grin. "And a muffin... How about I just make you dinner, and we'll call it even?"


	11. Chapter 11

"Oh my god, I thought you said you could cook?" Emily Fields barely managed to stifle a giggle as she watched Paige throw a wet dishcloth over a pan that had, just moments ago, gone up in flames.

"I'm a great cook!" Paige argued. "Seriously. I'm so good I should come with a Michelin star!" At that, Emily finally lost it. Removing her hand from her mouth, she let her laughter come tumbling out.

"You set pasta on fire!"

"I'm concussed!" Paige huffed, an adorable pout settling on her lips as she crossed her arms over her chest. She looked like a four year old having a sulk. Emily laughed all the more. "Hey! Have a little compassion why don't ya!" Paige swatted playfully at the other girl's arm.

"Sorry! Sorry…" Emily started to get herself back under control, though the odd chuckle was still escaping from her tightly pressed lips. It took her a minute to sober up, during which time Paige had managed to move the burnt pan off the stove and in to the sink.

"Besides, you're a lousy sous-chef! You're supposed to remind me to put water in to the pan." Paige smirked as Emily cracked up laughing again. If the girl was gorgeous when she was smiling, then she was downright breathtaking when she was laughing.

"Concussion or not. I'm hearing an awful lot of excuses, McCullers." Paige broke out in a genuine smile as Emily used her surname. It was something so simple, yet it was nice to hear someone call her by her proper name. Not Katherine, or Hastings. She was a McCullers. All of the DNA tests and fingerprint analysis in the world couldn't change that.

"Okay. Okay. How about I just order us a pizza? I have a feeling it will be better for Veronica's house insurance payments."

"Good idea." Emily grinned. She followed the other girl in to the lounge, making herself comfortable while Paige picked up the land line to dial for takeout. She typed a familiar number in to the phone, working almost purely on muscle memory. It rang three times before a bored sounding teenager picked up on the other end.

"Dominic's Pizza. How can I help?"

Paige abruptly hung up, bringing the phone down to rest in her lap. She stared at the innocuous device like it was a live serpent, ready to strike at any second. "What's wrong?" Emily probed gently, aware of the complete change in the other girl's demeanor. All of Paige's good humor had vanished from her eyes in the space of a phone call.

"Paige? Talk to me." Emily moved on instinct as she reached over and placed her hand on top of Paige's. Paige hung her head, strands of hair falling over her face from where her bangs hadn't completely grown out yet. She was trembling beneath Emily's touch.

"I rang this place I use all the time. They have the greatest pizza… it's two blocks over from my house." She finally spoke, cluing Emily in on the problem. "My house back in Pittsburgh."  
>"Here. Let me." Emily snatched the phone from her. If Paige was anything like her sister, then letting her wallow in self pity wouldn't solve anything.<p>

"Thanks." Paige managed a small smile. It wavered as her cell phone began to ring. Shana's name was flashing on the screen. Excusing herself, she went in to the kitchen to answer it. "Hey Gorgeous." She answered with a heavy sigh, a pang of guilt hitting her as she glanced back over her shoulder at Emily.

"Hey. I've been calling you all day." Shana sounded worn out. Paige was willing to bet it had nothing to do with her having just finished with swim practice. Paige had been giving her the run around for days now. "Yeah. Sorry about that. I was at the hospital. Funny story, actually-"

"Jesus, Paige. Can you go a week without hurting yourself?" Shana teased, her amusement lacing her voice. The sound of her smile was enough to get Paige smiling again.  
>"It wasn't my fault." She protested weakly.<br>"It never is." Replied Shana. "Are you okay?"

"Been better." Paige let out another sigh. Running her hand through her hair, pushing it back off her face, she leaned back against the same kitchen counter she'd smacked her head off earlier. "I miss you. I miss my Dad… I miss my life."  
>"So get on your bike and get your ass back up here." Shana suggested, without the slightest hint of amusement.<p>

"It's not that easy." Paige swallowed hard. "Everything's different now. I… I'm not who I thought I was. You can't imagine what that feels like…" Paige rubbed furiously at her eyes, trying to stop the tears that threatened to spill over on to her cheeks. She wasn't a big crier. She never had been. Yet Paige had cried buckets over the last few days.  
>"No. I can't. And I can't help you if you're a hundred miles away. Just come home. Fuck those people, Paige! They're not your family! Not really. You don't have to stay there!"<p>

Turning back around, to look out through the open kitchen door, her eyes landed on Emily for a moment. Before moving on to a framed picture of Veronica, Spencer and another brunette; probably Melissa. "I think… I think I need to figure out who I am; even if that means staying a little longer."

"Alright." Shana knew better than to argue with her headstrong girlfriend. "Just don't forget where home is, okay?" Paige nodded, before realizing Shana couldn't see her down the phone.  
>"Okay… I'll see you soon. Okay? I promise. I'll come up just as soon as I can. I love you."<p>

After hanging up the call, Paige waited a minute before heading back in to the lounge. She splashed some cold water on her face, to hide the fact that she'd been crying. If Emily noticed, then she didn't say anything. "Hey, I wasn't sure what you wanted. So I just ordered pepperoni."

"That's great." Paige forced a smile she wasn't really feeling. It was easy to do with Emily around; though that didn't help the ball of of guilt that was growing at the back of her throat with each passing second she spent with the other girl.

Paige had a crush. She wasn't dumb enough not to notice it. Emily had been like a shining beacon in the night, ever since Paige had rolled in to town. Knowing she was attracted to the other swimmer, and wanting to act on those feelings, were two very different things.

Paige was a lot of things, but not a cheater. Emily was her sister's best friend, and she could be Paige's friend too; so long as the youngest twin didn't do anything stupid.

"Everything okay?" Emily picked up on the other girl's unease. Paige brushed it off, insisting she was just fine. Emily gave her a hard, disbelieving, look in return. With her big brown eyes and pouting lips, Paige had never seen someone look quite as kissable as Emily Fields did in that moment.

Clearing her throat, and ripping her attention away from the other girl, Paige picked up the TV remote and forced herself to focus on something else. "So… Netflix?"

* * *

><p>"You know, if we were still on rival swim teams, I'd think you were trying to sabotage my game." Paige groaned as she put down the bone of the chicken wing she'd just finished chewing on. Along with the pizza, Emily had ordered a side of sweet-potato wedges, hot 'n spicy chicken wings and garlic dough balls.<p>

Emily had tried to pay the delivery guy, since she was the one who ordered everything, but Paige had flat out refused to let her dip in to her purse. So Paige had slipped the delivery driver twenty dollars, telling him to keep the change.

"Nobody forced you to eat it all!" Emily argued, laughing as Paige made a show of popping open the top button of her jeans and laying her head back against the couch.

"I feel like I'm going to burst! How are you not suffering right now?" Paige shook her head in disbelief. The other swimmer had eaten just as much as her, yet showed no sign of it.  
>"Hollow legs?" Answered Emily, making the two of them break out in a round of giggling.<p>

It was already dark outside, and the time had passed quicker than Paige had expected it to. Despite having the TV on, there had barely been a minute of silence between them. Emily was easy to talk to, and the girls had enough in common to ensure there was never more than a momentary break in conversation.

"I'm going to have to run twice as long as usual in the morning to burn all this off!" Paige carried on groaning, mostly from the rise it was getting out of Emily.  
>"Let me guess, you're one of those kind of swimmers." Emily rolled her eyes. "You count every last calorie and carb."<br>"And you are one of those people who can eat what they want, and still look stunning. Am I right?" Paige meant for the jibe to come across as light and teasing, but she was met with a frown from the other girl. "Em, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine." Emily waved her apology off, but still seemed distracted by something. "I am one of those people. I eat tons of junk food and it never really interferes with my timings in the pool… but I wouldn't say I was stunning." She finished with a nervous laugh as she brushed a stray strand of hair back behind her ear. She seemed to do that a lot when she was nervous.

"Are you kidding me?" Paige scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief. She shuffled, almost unconsciously, closer to the other girl, and placed a hand on her thigh. "Describing you as anything less would practically be a criminal offense-"

Paige was cut off as Emily abruptly leaned forward, their lips unexpectedly meeting. The sparks between them as their lips touched were almost tangible. Paige forgot herself a moment, sinking in to the kiss with the kind of reckless abandonment that had her reaching up to tangle her fingers through the other girl's hair.

Emily was the first to come to her senses. Pushing Paige away, she hastily got to her feet. Putting a safer distance between the two of them. Paige just stared up at her, like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming freight truck. "I'm sorry…" Emily stammered.

She grabbed her purse up off the couch, mumbled another apology, and then bolted for the door. Paige stared after her, wondering what the hell had just happened. She didn't have long to dwell on it for long as the front door opened again. Paige felt a sigh of relief leave her, thinking Emily had come back to talk; or to kiss some more. Paige found herself not really caring which.

"Em, I- Oh. It's you." She greeted Peter Hastings, her birth father, rather coldly.  
>"Paige." He returned the greeting with a nod. Placing his briefcase down on the floor, he looked around for any other signs of life in the house.<p>

Paige found her own eyes landing on the takeout boxes and wrappers that littered the expensive looking coffee table. She hastily started tidying up. After all, she hadn't been born in a barn. Peter didn't seem to mind the mess. He was more focused on figuring out whether they were alone.

"Are Spence and Veronica out?" He didn't try to call Veronica her mother. Paige was grudgingly grateful for that.  
>"Yeah. Spencer's out with Toby, and Veronica said she'd be working late." Paige answered. "Looks like it's just us."<br>"Yeah. Looks like." Peter rubbed absently at his stubble free chin. Looking at him closely, Paige couldn't deny the similarities between them. They had the same shock of thick dark hair, as well as the same proud jawline.

Peter looked just as frazzled as Paige felt. He took a seat on the chair closet to the door, sitting at an angle to his youngest daughter. The collar of his expensive silk shirt was popped open, with his tie hanging low around his neck. He looked pale and washed out; and nothing like he did in the family photos that were dotted around the house.

"I wanted to apologise. For last night, and this morning. I'm a lawyer, and I know more than anyone that first impressions count. I think we can both agree that I blew mine last night." He offered her the same kind of fatherly smile that Paige was used to seeing on her father's face.

"You have no reason to forgive me, but I'd like to state my case. If I may?" He waited for Paige to nod before he reached in to his inside coat pocket and pulled out his wallet. Flipping through, he came to one of the little plastic card holders near the back. He handed it over to Paige for a closer look.

Instead of a credit card, there was an old faded picture inside the plastic holder. It was of Peter Hastings, when he was a much younger man. The lines around his eyes weren't as deeply engraved, and he looked completely carefree; holding two young babies on his lap.

Paige couldn't figure out which of the two girls was her. Neither infant in the photo looked like the baby pictures of Paige in the McCullers' family photo album. That was because neither of the babies in that picture were of Paige; at least not the real one.

"This one's you." Peter pointed out the smaller girl on the left, seemingly aware that Paige was scanning the photo for something familiar. "You were so tiny. This was the first photo we took after you came home from the hospital. You had to stay in a month, because you were so much smaller than Spence. The doctor's didn't think you'd make it… but I knew better. From the moment I first laid eyes on you, I knew you were a fighter."

Paige felt her eyes well up, though it wasn't because of Peter's heartfelt words. Staring at her own baby picture, so very different from the ones she'd grown up seeing, somehow made the situation she was in feel all the more real. Looking at the photo of her and Spencer, Paige was suddenly struck with the crashing realization that her life could have been so very different.

"I'm not asking for your forgiveness." Peter repeated, breaking her out of her own thoughts. "I'm just asking for a chance. This whole situation has been hard on everybody. This family has almost been ripped apart time and time again, first when we lost you and now again that you're back. We need to work together, give each other time and-"

"We only met this morning." Paige interrupts his monologue. "If Veronica, or anyone else, asks. That's what I'll say." Paige handed his wallet back over, eager to end their father-daughter bonding time. "I don't know those kids in that photo, or their father; but I'm willing to make the effort to get to know them… As long as they're willing to get to know me. I'm not Kathryn. Not anymore."

"I understand." Peter nodded along as he put his wallet back away. Some of the weariness that had been weighing him down seemed to have been lifted from his shoulders. "Thank you… Paige."

* * *

><p>Paige had kept to herself for the rest of the night, hiding out in her bedroom. She'd put some of her books up on a shelf and had her own clothes in the dresser and the closet. It was starting to look and feel like her own room.<p>

Veronica and Spencer had both dropped by her room to check in with her. Veronica had insisted on taking her temperature and generally fussing over her. Spencer hadn't mentioned anything about Emily when she came by, so Paige guessed the other girl hadn't called her about what had happened between her and Paige earlier in the evening.

Paige was counting her blessings. For all Emily had been the one to kiss her, Paige got the feeling that she'd end up bearing the brunt of Spencer's wrath if she ever found out that something had happened between her best friend and her twin.

Paige found herself wandering downstairs for a glass of hot milk in the early hours of the morning. She was having trouble switching off to go to sleep. Emily and their kiss had been playing over and over in her head, as though on a endless loop.

From the start, Paige had assumed that Emily was straight. Now she was wondering if that assumption might have been way off base. Was Emily gay? Or was she just curious? Paige had met her fair share of curious straight girls who just wanted to know what it was like kissing another girl.

Paige was still musing about the other girl when she heard a rattling at the back door. Fearing that they might be about to be burglarized, Paige grabbed the nearest heavy object she could find. It turned out to be a frying pan. She held it up in both hands, like she was getting ready to swing a baseball bat. The rattling abruptly stopped, followed by the click of the lock. Paige felt her palms growing hot and sweaty as she waited for the door to lurch open.

It seemed to take an eternity for the door to open, and for a figure to step inside. They noticed Paige at the same time as she reared the pan back, getting ready to swing. "What the hell?" An indignant voice came from the figure as it reached in to its purse. "I've got mace!"

"Whoa! Whoa!" Paige hastily dropped the frying pan, letting it clatter to the tiled floor with a bang. "Easy!" Paige took a step back, stepping in to the moonlight streaming in through the kitchen window. The figure followed her, the light revealing a dark haired young woman. Paige had seen the face that was staring at her countless times over the week she'd been staying with the Hastings.

"Easy. You're Melissa, right? I'm Paige. I'm your…" The word 'sister' lodged in her throat. It didn't matter though. Melissa instantly dropped the canister she was holding, which was indeed a can of mace. Her features instantly softened. Stepping forward, she threw her arms around Paige without warning, and pulled the younger girl in close. Paige's first instinct was to rear back, but the sink at her back was blocking her.

Instead of fighting it, Paige went with the hug. She found it surprisingly easy to let herself sink in to her sister's embrace. Though Melissa's picture hadn't incited any kind of reaction from her, meeting the girl in question had a strange effect on Paige. She felt oddly comforted by the other girl; like they shared an unspoken affinity. "…Sister." Paige finally finished, feeling her eyes welling up with red hot tears. "I'm your sister."


End file.
